Most Popular Kid-friendly Chinese Foods
Spring Roll (春卷)
Traditionally spring rolls are usually eaten during the Spring Festival, hence the name. It can be sweet with red bean paste filling, or savory with vegetables and meats wrapped in the paper-thin flour sheet. Most spring rolls are pan-fried or deep-fried, and those non-fried spring rolls are typically made by filling the wrapping with pre-cooked ingredients. It is one of the nine dim sums in the in the epic Manchu Han Imperial Feast (满汉全席). Though many Chinese parents do not want their kids eat fried foods according to Chinese traditional philosophy of health preservation, it is difficult to prevent kids from loving fried spring rolls.
Tanghulu (糖葫芦)
Sugar is an irresistible food to all kids. Tanghulu, a traditional Chinese snack consisting of several rock sugar-coated fruits of Chinese hawthorn on a bamboo skewer, used to be seen in festival temple fairs and now in most food streets. The sweet sugar and lovely red hawthorn fruits attracts all kids passing the stall. Traditional Tanghulus use Chinese hawthorn fruits with pits and seeds taken out, but now people have used various other fruits, like strawberries, kumquat, pineapples, bananas or grapes.
Egg Fried Rice (蛋炒饭)
When people are asked the most delicious foods in their childhoods, many Chinese people’s answers are egg fried rice made by Mom. Though there are many Egg Fried Rice recipes, rice, egg, oil and soy sauce are indispensable. To make good fried rice, rice should be pre-cooked with less water than normal. Lard oil, the best oil, and soy sauce offers the rice a bright color and irresistible fragrant. Chopped meat, shrimp, peas, chopped carrot and onion can be selected to add into the recipe. The most famous fried rice in China might be Yangzhou Fried Rice, which you can order in most restaurants when travelling in China.
Soy Milk Pudding (豆腐花)
Originated in China, soybeans have been widely used in Chinese cooking since ancient times. Soy milk, which is an intermediate product in the production of tofu, can be drink directly or used to make many other foods besides tofu. One among them, soy milk pudding is one of the best foods for kids in China. Hot or cold, sweet or salty, plain or spicy, you can always find your best soy milk pudding recipe.
Latiao / Spicy Bar (辣条)
There might be no other food than Latiao so beloved by kids and so hated by their parents. Started from the stalls near schools, this spicy and salty strip became the most popular snacks of school students because of its cheap price and challenging spicy flavor. At the beginning, most latiao were produced by small food plants and parents worried about the food hygiene very much. But due to the popularity and big market, it has attracted interests and investments of many large food plants since 2015. There are more flavors for choice in the market and no more worries on food hygiene, but the price is much higher. Latiao is not only one of the most popular snacks for young people under 25 in China, but also popular out of China.
Stir-fried Tomato and Eggs (番茄炒蛋)
As a very simple but nutritious home-cooked dish, stir-fried tomato and eggs is always put before kids. Sour and juicy tomato stimulates kid’s appetite and the scrambled egg is tender and tasty. Sometimes parents add some minced meat or shrimp meat to the recipe.
Tips of cooking stir-fried tomato and eggs:
1. Adding some water into the egg liquid and whisking it until foamy can make the scrambled egg tenderer.2. Simmer the tomato in the boiling water for around 1 minute and then put it into cold water for a while. You can easily remove the skin of the tomato easily.
Red Braised Pork (红烧肉)
Chinese people, especially people in south China, do not eat as much meat as western people or their compatriots in the north & west. Benefited from warm and wet weather, vegetable is abundant in south China and is usually take up more than half of the dishes of each meal. But meat is indispensable on the table, and it must be cooked elaborately in different way besides frying and roasting. Red Braised Pork is one of the important dishes on Chinese family banquet, and always welcome by kids. Wuhuarou, or pork belly meat, is the best part to cook Red Braised Pork. There are two or three layers of lean meats between fat meat, which offer tender and creamy texture. Every piece of meat must be skinned. The red color comes from sugar instead of soy sauce. Frying sugar color is the critical step of making red and bright colored meat.
Wonton (馄饨)
Wonton is a kind of Chinese dumpling commonly found central and south China areas. It is also called wuntun or wantan (云吞) in Cantonese speaking district and Chaoshou (抄手) in southwest China areas, especially Sichuan province. The thickness and size of the flour wrappers, the wrapping methods and recipes for filling and soup can reflect the difference in local people’s diet culture. A wonton is usually served as breakfast and paired with some pickled vegetables, deep-fried dough sticks, Xiaolongbao (small steamer bun) or pot stickers.
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Have your kids ever tried Chinese food and what Chinese foods your kids love best? Leave us a comment and recommend your favorite children-friendly foods to everyone.