Must-try foods in Zhangjiajie, China

Find out what to eat in Zhangjiajie? This food list has the top Zhangjiajie dishes and snacks to try. Zhangjiajie cuisine is a blend of traditional Hunan cuisine and local Tujia minority cuisine. It is featured with sour and spicy flavors.

Baby Fish

'Baby Fish' (scientific name is Giant Salamader) is one of Zhangjiajie's special produce, it is also a famous dish in other parts of China. The traditional eating method is to get rid of the phlegm, split its body and remove the waste, then cut into strips and finally wash. Use vegetable oil to fry then put a slice of ginger, shallot, salt and sauce into accentuate the taste - this cooking style is called "Xiao Chao Huang Men".

This dish is not only delicious, but also very nutritious. The baby fish is classed as a second class nationally protected animal, so even though it is yummy, you are not however allowed to catch and kill this type of fish. Good news is that Zhangjiajie has artificially farmed fish on their menu.

Loach Stewed with Tofu

This dish has an interesting Chinese name, Niuqiu Zuan Doufu, which literally means the loach digging into the tofu. Loach is a kind of small fishes with great nutritional value. The dish gets its interesting name because the locals will allow the loaches living with fresh and tender tofu first before cooking.

Loaches and tofu are the main materials of Loach Stewed with Tofu. The locals stew the tofu together with the loaches and add peppercorn, shallot, gourmet power, chopped ginger, sauce and so on other seasonings. The smooth taste of tofu and the soft taste of loach make this dish extremely popular in Zhangjiajie. If you are going to Zhangjiajie and looking for something to east without red and spicy chili, you can have a try of Loach Stewed with Tofu.

Tujia Steamed Pork Belly

Photo ZhangjiajieTourGuide

Tujia steamed pork belly is another dish incredibly popular with local people. It is an essential dish at a banquet. This dish is tricky and time-consuming to create. Take pork belly as raw material, cut into large slices, then steam with some preserved mustard and seasoning in a steamer for 1.5 hours to 2 hours. This dish is good with steamed rice or you can simply top the pork slices over noodles.

Glutinous Rice Cake (Ciba Cake)

Glutinous Rice Cake is one kind of snack made up of steamed glutinous rice. It needs many steps to make such a snack. Firstly, it requires about 2-3 hours to allow the glutinous rice to soak in thoroughly in water before putting it into a wooden pot to be steamed. After cooking, grind the glutinous rice with a pestle and mortar. After several rounds of hard pounding, divide or cut the rice dough into dozens of egg-sized rice balls or square cakes. This is not the end. Once get the balls or square cakes, the locals may fry or roast them and drizzle with brown sugar and other seasonings.

Glutinous Rice Cake is crispy on the outside with a gooey texture inside. The first bite of the slightly spongy and pleasantly fragrant rice cake has such a delightful mouthfeel. Besides, it can cheer you up after the tiring hiking experience on those mountains in Zhangjiajie.

Smoked Blood Tofu

This is a classic Zhangjiajie dish. It is a mix of tofu, pork, pork blood and some seasonings such as pepper, chili, and salt. The mix is made into chunks and then smoked for over a month. It is delicious to have all flavors of tofu, bacon pork, and blood.

In the past, this dish can only be eaten during Chinese New Year Festival. Now, it has become part of local people’s daily cuisine and a must-try dish when you visit there.

See more: Top attractions to discover in Zhangjiajie, China

Source Internet