Delicious Food in Wenshan

Wenshan boasts a great variety of popular local snacks, including salt and pepper pastries, baked cakes, warm-blanched rice noodles, fried rice cakes, twisted glutinous rice cakes and red bean paste cakes. They are widely available at ordinary small restaurants.

Another local specialty is Zhuang-style grain wine brewed by villagers in Pingba Township, Wenshan County. Hosts in Zhuang families usually treat guests with this homemade liquor. It is also sold in bulk at some small shops. Served in porcelain bowls, it embodies the bold and forthright character of local ethnic groups.

A signature delicacy of Yanshan County, this dish retains the original flavor of tender, juicy and fragrant chicken with a sweet and savory broth.

Dating back to the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, it has long been popular across southern Yunnan. When cooked with precious medicinal ingredients such as panax notoginseng, gastrodia tuber and caterpillar fungus, it evolves into different nourishing steam pot chicken variants. They are renowned tonic dishes featuring distinctive Yunnan flavors.

Dog meat hot pot has a long history in Wenshan Prefecture. Healthy yellow-furred dog meat is regarded as the best choice. The meat is thoroughly stewed in a sand pot and served with a dipping sauce mixed with fennel powder, minced ginger, Chinese prickly ash powder, salt, coriander, mint and scallions, delivering an exquisite taste.

Lotus leaf congee helps relieve summer heat, clear internal heat, soothe the stomach and dissolve blood stasis. It is also used to alleviate sunstroke, edema and blood stasis symptoms.

The recipe is simple: mix one portion of glutinous rice with two portions of regular rice. Wash and chop fresh lotus leaves, wrap them in gauze and put the bundle into the pot. Cover the pot with a large lotus leaf while cooking. Once the congee is done, turn off the heat and let it cool slightly, then stir in white sugar or honey.

Every part of the lotus plant is useful. Rich in tannins, nuciferine, nelumbine and lotus leaf glycosides, lotus leaves can help reduce weight, relieve edema and lower blood lipids.

A unique traditional Zhuang delicacy exclusive to Guangnan County, Wenshan Prefecture, Bazhang Chicken is hailed as a one-of-a-kind dish in Yunnan. Bazhang is a Zhuang term referring to sour soup brewed with red leaf greens or wild vegetables.

To cook it: first cut cleaned chicken into small pieces and marinate well with seasonings. Put various condiments into a pot and pour in the sour soup. After the soup boils, add leaf greens and lard, then toss in the chicken chunks one to three minutes later. Serve once it comes to a boil again. Vermicelli, wood ear mushrooms and kelp can also be added.

The dish features a delightful blend of sweetness, freshness and distinctive sourness. It is rich but not greasy, appetizing and easy to digest.

A time-honored local specialty of Guangnan with a history of over 200 years. It is elaborately made from red bean paste, fatty pork and glutinous rice. The finished dish looks translucent and glossy, tasting sweet, savory and tender without being greasy.

Great care goes into making the rich broth, which is simmered slowly from pork bones, pork rinds and specially cultivated pea sprouts. Fresh pork tenderloin is sliced thinly, together with pork liver and pork kidney slices. They are blanched in the rich stock with chili oil, then combined with pre-cooked rice noodles, pig blood curd, minced pork sauce and crispy fried pork rinds.

The noodles are seasoned with Chinese prickly ash powder, white pepper, monosodium glutamate, sesame powder, soy sauce, pickled chili and chili powder. A generous selection of vegetables is added as well, including chives, spring onions, mung bean sprouts, celery, pickled mustard greens, coriander and cabbage, forming an authentic bowl of Wenshan-style blanched pork rice noodles.

The base is a thick broth stewed with pork trotters. When the broth simmers, add pea pods, large green onion bulbs, white kidney beans, pork ribs, meatballs and egg sheets and cook thoroughly. Stir in water starch to thicken the soup into a creamy consistency.

Place raw rice noodles in a bowl and pour the thick hot broth over them. Finish with soy sauce, batter sauce, prickly ash oil, sesame powder, monosodium glutamate, chives, mung bean sprouts, celery, pickled mustard greens, coriander and cabbage before serving.