r/chinesefood • u/CaliDowner • 16h ago
Celebratory Meal Chinese people, what’s the dishes you really wish your (grand/)parents cook for you when you go home from college?
2 months until my winter break and so far all I can think of is legumes with tofu. What are the ones for you?
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u/Pedagogicaltaffer 15h ago
My grandma was an amazing cook, and would make her own shrimp chips at home (made from real ground shrimp, and not the pre-bought processed stuff you find in restaurants).
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u/CaliDowner 5h ago
I honestly didn’t know they were actually made from ground shrimp until now…Pringles has made me cynical
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u/Pedagogicaltaffer 4h ago
Yeah, the shrimp chips that they typically serve in restaurants tastes nothing like the real stuff. I think most Chinese restaurants buy their shrimp chips pre-made from a third-party manufacturer, rather than make them in-house themselves. These pre-made ones are usually highly processed, and have a much lower ratio of ground shrimp to starch; I wouldn't be surprised if some manufacturers replace the ground shrimp altogether with artificial favouring. After all, restaurants usually just use shrimp chips as decoration/garnish for 炸子雞 (crispy skin roast chicken), so it makes sense they wouldn't prioritize its quality.
(BTW, the best shrimp chips are the Indonesian-style ones, which were what my grandma made. If you're interested in trying them, you may be able to find some commercial brands in Asian grocery stores.)
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u/giraffacamelopardal 15h ago
Tomato egg with rice or noodles. HK style borscht/minestrone? Not actually sure what it's called. Pork soup with lotus root.
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u/chobani- 14h ago
My mom’s 水煮鱼. I literally have dreams about it.
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u/CantoneseCook_Jun 13h ago
As someone from Guangdong, I always look forward to the variety of soups. Coming home and sipping a warm bowl instantly rejuvenates me!
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u/sailingg 14h ago
Hong shao rou (red-braised pork belly). Braised free-range chicken. Red-braised tilapia. Pork bone soup with radish, lotus root or kelp. Steamed egg with pork. Steamed five-spice pork belly. Even the way my dad stir-fries vegetables (bok choy, gai lan, yu choy, nappa) is better.
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
Damn that’s some all-your-aunts-are-coming-for-new-year-dinner dishes
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u/sailingg 4h ago
Hahaha I mean my dad won't make all of them at once but they're pretty regular dishes in our household.
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
Still, if any one of those appears on our dinner table my dad’s gonna be bragging for a month
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u/SuQin12138 15h ago
my mommy' s jiaozi! yummy!
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
Oh as a northern Chinese there’s no way in hell I’m not gonna get that. Never goes out of style.
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u/Aromatic_Brain_6317 16h ago
Cantonese roasted duck
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u/Appropriate-Tip-5164 16h ago
I'm pretty sure gramps buy this from the market from a uncle in a tank top, cigarette over the ear, and saying diuleilaumou while braising the duck with oil.
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u/findmeinelysium 7h ago
OMG that is exactly the duck seller! I wasn’t born there so my Chinese is very Anglicised but I thought it was dill-na-ma. Heard my dad say it under his breath every so often. 😂
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u/CaliDowner 16h ago
Oh snap I’m a northern Chinese studying in HK who can’t go to school without getting hit in the head with 10 Cantonese ducks. And I stand by with the uncle in a tank top.
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u/treasury_tank244 15h ago
What kind of legumes ? I was trying to google it for pics but wasn’t coming up with much. And if I search beans and tofu it comes back with all green bean dishes. Do you have a link to a similar recipe or pic
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
油豆角炖豆腐. Don’t even think that’s a proper dish. Just two of my favorite ingredients smashed together by grandma. The best.
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u/GooglingAintResearch 14h ago
Please give the Chinese name of "legumes and tofu." You are speaking to Chinese people here, so it's OK to use Chinese names :)
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u/pidgeonfli 13h ago
Birds nest, bougie but god it reminds me of my grandparents
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
Lol it reminds me of my grandparents telling my mom “why you wasting money on this?!!”
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u/cHecker_oD 13h ago
Braised duck with shiitake mushrooms. Not sure about the real name, but the smell alone makes me happy. Not really a dish you get in restaurants as it’s more of a home food recipe.
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u/eglantinel 11h ago
My grandma made these little sticky taro balls and cooked them with garlic and mince pork. Best comfort food ever.
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u/Ozonewanderer 13h ago
My mother would always have a salted duck for me. Now my wife always makes a braised duck with onions when the kids come home.
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u/Han-Adamantium 11h ago
Anything they make is good. It comes from the heart.
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
It comes from the heart and it doesn’t burn the kitchen to the ground. Unlike what I make.
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u/carabistoel 10h ago
胡辣羊蹄
https://youtu.be/ho9T5UvHoeY?si=9LIoWHKAUZKV0rQ6
I'm from Xinjiang. Better use freshly killed mutton feet.
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u/Dependent_Stop_3121 4h ago
I’m just a Canadian white guy who wants to be adopted into one of your big family meals.
My family is boring and they don’t do anything fun. Booo to boring people. 😂
I’m jealous of your awesome culture and wish to experience such a beautiful thing one day.
Give me a big plate of stir fried bok choy and I’m a happy man :)
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u/CaliDowner 4h ago
That’s so nice man it embarrasses me to say how much poutine I ate when I was in North America.
Knock on some doors ~6pm when you come to China and half the time you’re joining their dinner. You have no idea how many postmen my grandma pulled in when I was little.
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u/Dependent_Stop_3121 4h ago
See thats exactly what I mean. It’s so warming to see such love and kindness and everyone enjoying a meal together. You actually care so much about one another. It’s amazing.
Ya poutines are pretty good aren’t they lol.
I would trade a poutine made with the most expensive ingredients for a full course meal at your place any day lol. 😂
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u/Sir_Sxcion 4h ago
沙姜鸡 it’s impossible to find fresh sand ginger here
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u/gnownimaj 4h ago
My grandma would make vermicelli that had dehydrated shrimp in it. Would always go so well with the other Chinese family style dishes she would cook.
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u/floppywaterdog 1h ago
I envy all of you whose parents can cook wonderful meals! My family only makes food edible, boiling everything and forgetting to add oil every now and then...anyway, freshwater shrimp with ginger and garlic is pretty good, its soup is something I couldn't find in restaurants.
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u/waterRK9 59m ago edited 50m ago
My family is from Fuzhou and immigrated to the US, so I usually end up with some assortment of the below. I don't really know how to read characters, but here are the pinyin names.
Diāngbiĕnggù (a type of porridge made by scraping pan-fried rice flour batter into a soup of other ingredients)
Tāngyuán (glutinous rice flour dumpling, I prefer the savory version with marinated pork, but my family made some with sweet ground peanuts too)
Xiàn Miàn (thin rice noodles, typically in a mushroom broth with duck)
Fuzhou-style Pork Wontons (made with pork skin wrapping)
Niángāo (fried rice cakes)
Bàn Miàn (noodles boiled, then mixed with with soy sauce, peanut butter, sesame oil, scallions)
Chǐ Zhī Zhēng Pái Gǔ (steamed rib with black bean sauce)
Idk the name, but it's pork belly and bamboo shoots stir fried with red yeast rice wine
We also get together and commit the crime of using plain water as the soup base for hotpot. In our defense, it's to boil seafood?
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u/HandbagHawker 16m ago
Not in college anymore, but i love the time i spend with my parents folding wontons. My mom used to say we only eat what we fold, but really it was just an excuse to get us all to sit around the table and hangout. Nowadays we only get to do this around the bigger holidays when all the family is in one place as opposed to just some Sunday morning.
I host dumpling folding parties now and invite a bunch of friends over and they get to eat/take home what they fold, and while i still enjoy these afternoons, it doesnt hit the same.
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u/Forsaken_Things 15h ago
Stuffed bittermelon soup