∙Text by Monideepa Banerjee ∙ Photos by Hsu Yu-Kai Traditional Chinese Breakfast Tempting Treats on the Road Side
he vast popularity of Chinese hesitant to try these tasty treats. interest the throngs of people gathered cuisine stretches far beyond The reasons are many-from not at the neighborhood vendors relishing T the Chinese Diaspora, which knowing what is on offer to limited foods that look and smell so different. extends around the globe. The same time as one rushes to work, or not being Finally, accompanied by a friend, cannot be said specifically about comfortable with the idea of eating Jefferey Wu, I took my first hesitant the Chinese breakfast, however, something other than the trusted Western step. Needless to say, I was immensely or foods traditionally served in the cereal-milk-juice-bread-egg combo, pleased with the outcome. I am now a morning. Although the choices are all items conspicuously absent in the regular, exploring and experiencing the seemingly endless, sumptuous, healthy, Chinese counterpart. It took me years to myriad traditional breakfast goodies, and alluringly appetizing, people break from my safety mold and venture often traveling far afield to take a outside the Diaspora are somewhat out, though I had long watched with bite at some well-known breakfast Traditional Chinese Breakfast Tempting Treats on the Road Side food
Savory Pancakes The Chinese pancake or dan bing ( 蛋 餅 )is undisputedly the best known Chinese-breakfast dish among Westerners living in Taipei. Unlike pancakes served in McDonald’s or other Western-style restaurants, the dan bing is much more crispy and tasty, as the dough is mixed with spring onions and while frying battered egg is added to create an omelet form. It is usually pan-fried and served with delicious soy-sauce paste. There are many variations on the regular dan bing. There are rolls filled with meat and chopped vegetables, similar to burritos or wraps but softer and tangier due to thick layers of sauce used. Then there’s cong you bing( 蔥油餅 ), much smaller in size and rich in spring-onion content. In some restaurants I have tasted this Morning Beverage dish without the egg, my husband’s The most profound difference between a favorite treat. Chinese traditional breakfast and a regular Discover Taipei Another special kind of dan bing Western breakfast is probably the types ( 蘿 蔔 蛋 餅 ) is luo bo si dan bing of beverage taken. Forget coffee, and 33 or radish-filled wraps. The radish is the ubiquitous tea that the Chinese shredded into very thin, finger-long otherwise gulp by the dozen with any pieces, put inside two flat pancakes, other meal. While we begin our day and then fried over a low flame. This with a steaming hot cup of either of the dish is usually served with chopped two, the preferred drink here is soybean chilies dipped in thick soy paste. milk or dou jiang ( 豆 漿 ). “Drinking tea early in the day is not good for your body,” says Fenny Carr. She adds that the choice of soy milk over cow milk was probably necessity-driven at one time, but has lingered on because of the health benefits of soy protein. The younger generation, too, has adopted the Tempting Treats on the Road Side taste, corroborated by the wide range of soy milks sold in convenience stores. Dou jiang is served either sweet or joint through the small eateries in any salty, the sweet version hot or cold – neighborhood are as good as it gets. I prefer it lukewarm. The salty kind – In this issue of DTB, I have tried xian dou jiang ( 鹹豆漿 )-- is more like a my best to include all the delicious soup, as chopped fresh vegetables, pork, popular choices, but the list is far from dried shrimp, pickled vegetables, etc., exhaustive, and rather an attempt to help are added along with lots of vinegar and you appreciate the variety on offer and chilis. Interestingly, both the sweet and to order. So folks, all aboard the gourmet salty versions are served in cereal bowls train through the unique world of the with soup spoon; “takeaway” comes in Dan bing (蛋餅), a chinese pancake that paper cups (See above). Some breakfast traditional Chinese breakfast. is usually pan-fried along with eggs and spring onions. stalls sell a special kind of spongy cake Traditional Chinese Breakfast food Tempting Treats on the Road Side
Crunchy Crullers Crunchy on You tiao ( 油條 ) is the most popular the outside and soft on the inside, you tiao can breakfast snack, and rightfully so, as also be a stomach filler it can be had alone or in combination anytime throughout the day. with almost every other breakfast item, whether it’s dou jiang, congee, shao bing, or rice rolls. Conventionally, you tiao is made of two long bread sticks intertwined, fried golden-brown and very light in weight. It resembles cheese sticks, but much softer and longer. It also tastes nice when had with sesame paste sprinkled with lots of chilis, for that extra kick. Shao bing ( 燒 餅 ), a kind of long – luo bo gao ( 蘿蔔糕 )(See above) -- that baked bread, soft and layered with are supposed to combine well with dou sesame seeds on top, goes very well in jiang, although I prefer it with you tiao combination with you tiao. It is available the middle along with pork floss. Egg, (for more on this read on). in two flavors–sweet and salty. Shao bing you scrambled or in omelet form, can also be In some shops a third kind of drink – mi tiao is, loosely, used as filling. Radish shao bing is also jiang ( 米 漿 )-- is available, hot and a k i n d o f a quite familiar breakfast item. cold. It is made from roasted rice submarine Jefferey narrated a very interesting which is then powdered and boiled s a n d w i c h story while I was polishing off my Discover Taipei with water and lots of sugar. with you tiao second you tiao one morning. The
34 as filling, Mandarin name you tiao is derived from the bread a Cantonese phrase that literally means cut in half “oil-fried devils.” According to legend, and a pair there was a very able and kind-hearted Many places still steam their buns( bao zi ) in the of you tiao general in the Song dynasty, Yue Fei ( 岳 traditional way, which placed in 飛 ). Another official, Qin Hui ( 秦檜 ), is with the large steamer like orchestrated a plan to bring about his this one. demise. The interlinked-bread stick is said to represent Qin Hui and his wife. The you tiao is deep-fried as this was the punishment for traitors at that time. The food became widely popular and the name stuck. Quite innovative, wouldn’t you say? Traditional Chinese Breakfast Tempting Treats on the Road Side food
Oh! Jefferey told me a special kind of rice Those Delicious Rolls is used for this item – different from the white rice served in restaurants. This The rice roll or fan tuan ( 飯 糰 ) is rice is stickier and sweeter and is easy another regular breakfast item. Sticky to shape. Usually, one scoop of sticky rice is wrapped around meat, vegetables, rice is taken on a piece of cloth and then or you tiao. The meat can be cooked flattened by vigorous patting. A dent is or raw-minced, the vegetables cooked created along the middle and the filling or pickled, depending on customer is added; it is then rolled up and the ends A steaming hot bun (bao zi ) just came out preference. I like the one with you tiao, of a steamer. are joined tightly. The rolls can stay this with a generous amount of pork floss. way for a long time before shape lost. Insist on ones freshly made, as the Man tou ( 饅 頭 ) is a steamed bun, crispiness is soon lost. For many locals, more typical of northern China. It has no this is the staple breakfast diet, along Soft and Round, Sweet filling, but sometimes nuts and seeds are with a cup of sweet soy milk. and Sound mixed into the flour (See below). In one Soft and round pouches on a flat eatery I have found the man tou is deep- tray, still emitting steam and looking fried and served as a snack. pleasantly appetizing-these are one of the first things that attract your attention Other Local Favorites – while visiting a breakfast stall. These Congee and Dumplings steamed buns, bao zi ( 包子 ) in Chinese, Writing about the traditional Chinese are a key component in the Chinese breakfast can never be complete without breakfast. mentioning these two items, although my They can be sweet or spicy, varying in local friends confirm that consumption of diameter from 4 cm to about 12 cm and these items is not restricted to breakfast. Discover Taipei of differing consistency. The buns appear They can be eaten any time, anywhere. almost translucent and like soft candy in There are specialty dumpling restaurants, 35 high-end joints, while regular vendors as well as specialty congee restaurants. have not-so-soft but still very wholesome Congee is a type of rice porridge, offerings. Sweet ones have red bean, taro, or sesame paste as filling while the spicy ones have fillings of spring onions, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and pork, among other things. Here, anyone up for a bite?
These colorful buns are as deliciously looking as they appear. Traditional Chinese Breakfast food Tempting Treats on the Road Side
where rice is boiled with many times its weight in water to form a viscous white paste. It is usually eaten with vegetables, meat, pork floss, nuts, and
other condiments (See right). Occasionally a sweet version is prepared by mixing in red-bean paste and sugar. A friend of mine told me that congee along with you tiao is the most common breakfast in many parts of Taiwan. For dumplings ( 餃 子 ; jiao zi)
Discover Taipei – the range is so wide and varied that I feel it is better to have them 36 separately as a wholesome meal rather than tasting them as part of a breakfast combo.
Where to Go and What to Order The best part of eating breakfast Chinese-style is that you don’t have to go anywhere - just step out of your house. In every locality you will find small shops and permanent/movable carts selling breakfast. And everything is A bowl of congee that goes with various condiments is a typical meal that can be had prepared fresh, right in front of throughout the day. you. The aroma these gastronomic delicacies give off fills the nostrils delicacies. Established in 1944, the joint, the shop is open 24 hours, so and usually works up an elephantine shop is at present run by the third anytime is breakfast time. appetite while one waits in queue. Still, generation. On one visit the owner Sampling the Chinese breakfast it works out relatively cheap as most said many customers come from is not just filling your tummy with items are priced between NT$20 and 50. faraway places, confirmed by Zhang substanceous goodies in the morning As I mentioned in the beginning, Yao-zhan ( 詹 耀 章 ), who said he’d and getting ready for the day, it is an I have visited several well-known traveled one hour to reach here, stating experience in itself. It is more like traditional-breakfast joints. One such the steamed buns and shao bing you crossing cultural boundaries to gain shop is in Yonghe ( 永 和 ) – named tiao are very special here. What I find insight into the lives of the people World Soybean King, ( 永和豆漿大王 ) most interesting about this place is that whose land has become my own the shop is famous for its breakfast although it is popular as a breakfast homeland over time.