What to Eat in Kunming

Guo Qiao Mi Xian (Bridge-crossing Noodle) is a very strange name for this food, but a very popular food in Yunnan area as a representative of Yunnan cuisine.
 

It is formed with three parts: a bowl of chicken soup, a sliced non-staple food in addition to a dish of thin bean curd sheets and a dish of vegetables, then the rice noodles. With the seasoning of pepper powder, gourmet powder, fried chili, chopped onion, the soup appears colorful with red, green, and yellow and white and its taste is unmatched.

 

Steam-Pot Chicken is a popular local food for Yunan people. When you refer this dish in a city of Yunnan, locals will immediately show their preference on this delicacy

 

To prepare the dish, the first step is to chop the chicken into cubes, put them in the steam-pot and add some seasoning. Then the steam pot is placed on another container full of water. After stewing the container for three or four hours, the hot steam entering the steam-pot through the volcano entrance will make the chicken ready to eat.

 

Steam - Pot Chicken became popular in southern Yunnan during the reign of Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty. Jianshui County is famous for pottery products. A craftsman named Yang Li created a special steam-pot with an empty pipe in the middle. When chickens are steamed, they are put in the pot with some ingredients and covered. Then the steam-pot is put in a larger pot filled with water. The chicken is cooked by the steam, and the steam gathers and combines with the chicken in the Steam-pot. Therefore the chicken is tender, delicious and nutritious.  In 1927 the Steam-pot Chicken spread to Kunming. A restaurant in Fuzhao Street was famous for serving the dish.

 

What was different was that some famous medicinal herbs like sanqi (pseudo - gin-seng) and chongcao (Chinese caterpillar fungus) were put into the soup, which added to the nutrition and medical function of the soup.The restaurant was named "Pei Yang Zheng Qi" and became very famous.      
          

Cooking in a Yunan Steam Pot is not only remarkably healthy but gives foods a delicious succulent flavor. The steam pot is placed over boiling water and steam coming up through the 'chimney' does the cooking.

 

Crisp Stuffed Bun is a traditional snack of Yunnan desserts. With its simple shape, it is crisp and soft and full of savoury flavor. It has both sweet and salt taste. The Yunnan ham of stuffing is fresh salty, the white sugar and honey is sweet but not tired, it is agreeable sweetness and not be dominated in your mouth, you can also taste the salty flavor. First sweet and later salty, the crisp stuffed bun is quite special in our local snacks.

 

Xuanwei ham is also called Yunnan Ham, it is one of three famous hams in China. In the sixty years ago, it sold to Hongkong, Singapore and other places, which is quite famous. Due to Xuanwei ham is seasonal product, its processing season is from every frost’s descent to the beginning of spring in the next year with a temperature among 5 degree to 10 degree. Xuanwei ham’s meat quality is superior with unique flavor and smell, and it is easy to preserve in the long time.

 

Fragrant Bamboo-tube-cooked-Rice

Fragrant Bamboo-tube-cooked- Rice has the rich flavor of the Dai nationality, the best time to make this food is from November to February in the next year. At this time there is a layer of the aroma of bamboo, so called fragrant bamboo. Dai people will cut down the an end of bamboo first, and then will soak glutinous rice in a bamboo tube with banana to plug to prevent spilling, and soaking in water for 15 minutes, later put them into fire or roasted over charcoal. The opening of bamboo tube spills out of steam for more than 10 minutes later, you can take out. When eating, using a wooden hammer to knock that makes it soft and fragrant rice, which taste fragrant and soft of distinctive flavor. Little knowledge: At the time of eating glutinous rice in the restaurant in Xishuangbanna, washign your hands first because that eating glutinous rice kneaded by hand, the longer you knead, the better it tastes.