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Spring rolls are one of the best-known Chinese snacks.

They are not difficult to make and are a perfect starter for any meal. Spring rolls should be crisp, light and delicate. Avoid the greasy, bulky imitations which are sometimes called egg rolls. The skins for spring rolls can be obtained fresh or frozen from Chinese grocers. Be sure to let them thaw thoroughly if they are frozen.

As their name suggests, the snacks symbolise and commemorate the coming of the spring season. They are one of the traditional foods eaten in China on New Year’s Eve, which, by the Chinese lunar calendar, marks the end of the winter season. Such foods as spring rolls and jiaozi (a popular northern Chinese dumpling) are always at hand then for family and for visitors.

Makes about 15-18 spring rolls

Ingredients

1 packet spring roll skins, preferably the Shanghai type
25 g (1 oz) black mushrooms
100 g (4 oz) uncooked prawns, peeled and minced
100 g (4 oz) minced pork
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp cornflour
½ tsp sesame oil
1¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1½ tbsp groundnut or peanut oil
2 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped finely
1½ tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
3 tbsp spring onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
250 g (8 oz)Chinese leaves, finely shredded
1 egg, beaten
1.2 litres (2 pints)groundnut or peanut oil
Method: How to make spring rolls:

1. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Then drain them and squeeze out the excess liquid. Remove and discard the stems and finely shred the caps into thin strips.

2. Combine the prawns and meat with soy sauce, rice wine, cornflour, sesame oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

3. Heat a wok or large frying-pan over high heat until it is hot. Add the oil, and when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 20 seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients, the prawns-meat mixture, Chinese leaves, mushrooms and stir-fry for 5 minutes. Place the mixture in a colander to drain and allow it to cool thoroughly.

4. Place 3-4 tablespoons of filling near the corner end of each spring roll skin and fold in each side and roll up tightly. Use the beaten egg mixture to seal the open end by brushing a small amount on the edge. Then press the edge onto the roll. You should have a roll about 10 cm (4 inches) long, a little like an oversized cigar.

5. Wash the wok and reheat it over high heat until it is hot, then add the oil for deep-frying. When the oil is hot and slightly smoking, gently drop in as many spring rolls as will fit easily in one layer. Carefully fry them until the spring rolls are golden brown on the outside and cooked inside, about 4 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary. Take the spring rolls out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. You will have to do this in several batches. Serve them at once, hot and crispy with the sweet and sour sauce on the side for dipping.

Hot pot - is the most famous and favorite dish in Chongqing. Chongqing local people consider the hot pot a local specialty, which is noted for its peppery and hot taste, scalding yet fresh and tender. People gather around a small pot boiled with charcoal, electric or gas filled with flavorful and nutritious soup base. You have a choice of spicy, pure and combo for the soup base. Thin sliced raw variety meat, fish, various bean curd products and all kinds of vegetables are boiled in the soup base. You then dip them in a little bowl of special sauce. Be careful since the spicy soup base is burning hot. 

First eaten by poor boatmen of the Yangtze River in Chongqing area and then spread westwards to the rest of Sichuan. Now is a very popular local flavor and can be found at every corner of the city. There are a great variety of hotpots, including Yueyang Hotpot, Four Tastes Hotpot, Yashan Hotpot and Fish Head Hotpot. If you are adventurous enough, you can basically cook anything with hot pot, e.g., pig’s brain and duck’s kidney. 

Chongqing people love their hotpot, especially when the weather is steamy. The fire dances under the pot, the heavily oiled and spiced soup boils with hazy steam, and the people are bathed in sweat. Although hotpot can be found wherever there are street vendors or small restaurants, chongqing Hot pot has the greatest variety and is known for its delicious soup base and dipping sauce. 

 

Yuanyang hotpot

Big hot pot for 56 person

It is a traditional signature in Dezhou, previously known as “Dezhou Five-fragrant Boneless Braised Chicken”. Invented by Deshunzhai Restaurant in Dezhou in the era of Emperor of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. Procedure: Deep-fried chicken of about one kg till lightly burned; add mushrooms, premium soy sauce, clove, villous autumn fruit, cardamon, angelica dahurica, fennel and malt sugar. The finished dish is bright, lustrous, tender, fleshy and smells good. The more the chewing, the more appealing. It gained popularity and became nationally known. In the past 100 years or so, this dish is favored by domestic and international visitors.      

China covers a large territory and has many nationalities, hence a variety of Chinese food with different but fantastic and mouthwatering flavor. Since China’s local dishes have their own typical characteristics, generally, Chinese food can be roughly divided into eight regional cuisines, which has been widely accepted around. Certainly, there are many other local cuisines that are famous, such as Beijing Cuisine and Shanghai Cuisine.　　

       Shandong Cuisine

　　Consisting of Jinan cuisine and Jiaodong cuisine, Shandong cuisine, clear, pure and not greasy, is characterized by its emphasis on aroma, freshness, crispness and tenderness. Shallot and garlic are usually used as seasonings so Shangdong dishes tastes pungent usually. Soups are given much emphasis in Shangdong dishes. Thin soup features clear and fresh while creamy soup looks thick and tastes strong. Jinan cuisine is adept at deep-frying, grilling, frying and stir-frying while Jiaodong division is famous for cooking seafood with fresh and light taste.

　　Shandong is the birthplace of many famous ancient scholars such as Confucious and Mencius. And much of Shandong cuisine’s history is as old as Confucious himself, making it the oldest existing major cuisine in China. But don’t expect to gain more wisdom from a fortune cookie at a Shandong restaurant in the West since fortune cookies aren’t even indigenous to China.

　　Shandong is a large peninsula surrounded by the sea to the East and the Yellow River meandering through the center. As a result, seafood is a major component of Shandong cuisine. Shandong’s most famous dish is the Sweat and Sour Carp. A truly authentic Sweet and Sour Carp must come from the Yellow River. But with the current amount of pollution in the Yellow River, you would be better off if the carp was from elsewhere. Shandong dishes are mainly quick-fried, roasted, stir-fried or deep-fried. The dishes are mainly clear, fresh and fatty, perfect with Shandong’s own famous beer, Qingdao Beer

 

　　Sichuan Cuisine

　　Sichuan Cuisine, known often in the West as Szechuan Cuisine, is one of the most famous Chinese cuisines in the world. Characterized by its spicy and pungent flavor, Sichuan cuisine, prolific of tastes, emphasizes on the use of chili. Pepper and prickly ash also never fail to accompany, producing typical exciting tastes. Besides, garlic, ginger and fermented soybean are also used in the cooking process. Wild vegetables and animals are usually chosen as ingredients, while frying, frying without oil, pickling and braising are applied as basic cooking techniques. It cannot be said that one who does not experience Sichuan food ever reaches China.

　　If you eat Sichuan cuisine and find it too bland, then you are probably not eating authentic Sichuan cuisine. Chili peppers and prickly ash are used in many dishes, giving it a distinctively spicy taste, called ma in Chinese. It often leaves a slight numb sensation in the mouth. However, most peppers were brought to China from the Americas in the 18th century so you can thank global trade for much of Sichuan cuisine’s excellence. Sichuan hot pots are perhaps the most famous hotpots in the world, most notably the Yuan Yang （mandarin duck） Hotpot half spicy and half clear.

　　Guangdong Cuisine

　　Cantonese food originates from Guangdong, the southernmost province in China. The majority of overseas Chinese people are from Guangdong （Canton） so Cantonese is perhaps the most widely available Chinese regional cuisine outside of China.

　　Cantonese are known to have an adventurous palate, able to eat many different kinds of meats and vegetables. In fact, people in Northern China often say that Cantonese people will eat anything that flies except airplanes, anything that moves on the ground except trains, and anything that moves in the water except boats. This statement is far from the truth, but Cantonese food is easily one of the most diverse and richest cuisines in China. Many vegetables originate from other parts of the world. It doesn’t use much spice, bringing out the natural flavor of the vegetables and meats.

　　Tasting clear, light, crisp and fresh, Guangdong cuisine, familiar to Westerners, usually chooses raptors and beasts to produce originative dishes. Its basic cooking techniques include roasting, stir-frying, sauteing, deep-frying, braising, stewing and steaming. Among them steaming and stir-frying are more commonly applied to preserve the natural flavor. Guangdong chefs also pay much attention to the artistic presentation of dishes.

　　Fujian Cuisine

　　Consisting of Fuzhou Cuisine, Quanzhou Cuisine and Xiamen Cuisine, Fujian Cuisine is distinguished for its choice seafood, beautiful color and magic taste of sweet, sour, salty and savory. The most distinct features are their “pickled taste”.

　　Jiangsu Cuisine

　　Jiangsu Cuisine, also called Huaiyang Cuisine, is popular in the lower reach of the Yangtze River. Aquatics as the main ingredients, it stresses the freshness of materials. Its carving techniques are delicate, of which the melon carving technique is especially well known. Cooking techniques consist of stewing, braising, roasting, simmering, etc. The flavor of Huaiyang Cuisine is light, fresh and sweet and with delicate elegance. Jiangsu cuisine is well known for its careful selection of ingredients, its meticulous preparation methodology, and its not-too-spicy, not-too-bland taste. Since the seasons vary in climate considerably in Jiangsu, the cuisine also varies throughout the year. If the flavor is strong, it isn’t too heavy; if light, not too bland.

　　Zhejiang Cuisine

　　Comprising local cuisines of Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shaoxing, Zhejiang Cuisine, not greasy, wins its reputation for freshness, tenderness, softness, smoothness of its dishes with mellow fragrance. Hangzhou Cuisine is the most famous one among the three.

　　Hunan cuisine

　　Hunan cuisine consists of local Cuisines of Xiangjiang Region, Dongting Lake and Xiangxi coteau. It characterizes itself by thick and pungent flavor. Chili, pepper and shallot are usually necessaries in this division.

　　Anhui Cuisine

　　Anhui Cuisine chefs focus much more attention on the temperature in cooking and are good at braising and stewing. Often hams will be added to improve taste and sugar candy added to gain

This is a standard filling used throughout northern China. Dried shrimp (available at Chinese food stores) add depth to the relatively bland pork–and–napa cabbage mix. If you wish, add up to 2 cups (500 mL) finely chopped Chinese or garlic chives. Others might like to add a handful of finely chopped fresh coriander.

Servings: 60 dumplings

Ingredients:

2 tbsp (25 mL) dried shrimp (optional)
3 cups (750 mL) finely chopped napa cabbage(8 oz/250 g)
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1 lb (500 g) lean ground pork
1/2 cup (125 mL) minced green onion
1 egg, beaten 
1 tbsp (15 mL) soy sauce
1 tsp (5 mL) grated gingerroot
1 tsp (5 mL) sesame oil
1/4 tsp (1 mL) white or black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper

Preparation: