What Delicious Food Can You Try in Tengchong?
Tengchong cuisine stands out distinctly in Yunnan Province. Completely different from typical Yunnan dishes, it is rich yet not greasy, perfectly balanced between sour and spicy, fresh and appetizing. Home-style Tengchong dishes are dominated by sour and spicy flavours. The most widely used seasonings are sour bamboo shoots, dried pickled vegetables, cured pickles, water pickles, burnt chili paste, fermented chili, bird’s eye chilies and other preserved vegetables, all unique local specialties of Tengchong.
1. The Great Rescue
This dish is stir-fried rice cakes served with the Green Dragon Crossing the Sea Soup.
Slice the rice cake into pieces, then stir-fry quickly over high heat together with fresh pork slices, tomatoes, eggs, fresh mushrooms, tender pea sprouts, chopped green onions and soy sauce. This is a staple dish all over Tengchong and available in every local restaurant.
2. Green Dragon Crossing the Sea Soup
Pour boiling water over dried pickled vegetables, add salt, chili and pounded ginger chunks, then place several sections of green Chinese onions on top and serve in a large bowl. This is the famous Green Dragon Crossing the Sea Soup.
3. Boiled Rice Noodles (Ersi)
Cut rice cakes into fine shreds and blanch them in boiling water. Top with shredded fresh pork or ham, meat broth or egg drop soup; chicken broth works best. Finish with soy sauce, green onions, coriander or a little Tengchong pickled vegetables.
Variations include pork broth rice noodles, beef broth rice noodles, chicken broth rice noodles, three-delicacy rice noodles, sour soup rice noodles, pea jelly rice noodles and barbecued meat rice noodles to suit all tastes.
Recommendation: Aunt Li’s Breakfast Shop
Located near the National Martyrs Cemetery, next to Jinjia Hotel. It specialises in rice cake noodles and rice noodles. The thick, rich broth paired with crispy fried pork and green vegetables makes for an unforgettable meal.
4. Clay Pot Chicken
The chicken has a glossy golden hue that stays bright long after serving. It is juicy without being heavy. The skin is crisp, the meat tender and the bones soft, releasing a wonderful aroma with every bite. Braised with a secret herbal recipe, clay pot chicken activates blood circulation, relaxes tendons, clears the lungs and invigorates the stomach. It is especially suitable for the elderly and children.
5. Pea Jelly
The unique flavour of Tengchong pea jelly comes from its special production method. While ordinary pea jelly is made from pea flour, Tengchong’s version uses strained pea liquid. Two kinds of liquid — clear and thick — are prepared separately before mixing to make the jelly.
There is also a refined way to eat it: divide one bowl into three portions: one plain, one lightly seasoned and one fully seasoned. Taste them in different orders, and each combination delivers a brand-new wonderful flavour.
Recommendation: Cun Liqin Pea Jelly Shop
Beside the Dieshui River Scenic Area. Long queues form every morning for hot breakfast jelly. In the daytime, locals come for cold pea jelly, cold rice noodles and rice rolls. It is extremely popular.
6. Palm Shoot Hearts
Palm shoot hearts grow abundantly in Tengchong, and they are a favourite local delicacy. The ingredient has even become a nickname for Tengchong people.
There are two main cooking methods:
- Stir-fried: Chop cleaned palm shoot hearts and stir-fry with diced lean pork, shredded carrots and cured pickled vegetables. The dish is colourful, mellow and tasty.
- Boiled: Cook chopped palm shoot hearts in clear soup with dried pickles, burnt chili, pounded ginger, green onion whites and coriander. It tastes bitter with a sweet aftertaste. It dispels cold, reduces internal heat and relieves summer heat, leaving you feeling relaxed all over.
7. Deep-Fried Tripe with Secret Sauce
This fried dish is rich but not greasy, uniquely flavoured yet never cloying. It is spicy without harming the liver, with a subtle bitter aroma. It also has dietary benefits for people with excessive liver fire.
8. Tengchong Earthen Hot Pot
Cooked slowly in hand-made local clay pots over low heat, this hot pot has a sweet, mellow flavour.
The base is cooked with green vegetables, taro, Chinese yam, sweet potatoes and yellow bamboo shoots in fresh pork bone broth. On top lies a layer of puffed pork rind (specially made: fresh pork skin is sun-dried, deep-fried in oil, soaked in cold water and then sliced thinly). A ring of egg rolls decorates the rim, creating a pot full of colour and fragrance.
9. Ultra-Thin Pork Slices
A famous dish in western Yunnan, it demands precise heat control and masterful knife skills. Specially prepared pork head meat is sliced into pieces as thin as cicada wings. Seasoned with salt, sour vinegar, chili, Sichuan pepper and spices, the meat is crisp and tender with a long lingering aftertaste.
Recommendation: Deng’s Thin Pork Slices
Opposite the Confucian Temple on Hongxue Road, this restaurant earns rave reviews.
10. Caravan Meat
This dish originated among caravan travellers on the Ancient Tea Horse Road who camped outdoors. Large chunks of meat are braised slowly with assorted seasonings. It is aromatic, nourishing, rich yet free of greasiness.
11. Pine Pollen Cake
Thin rose red bean paste is sandwiched between two layers of glutinous rice crust, then dusted with pine pollen. The cake is soft, sweet, natural and healthy.
Recommendation
Aunt Lin sells the most authentic pine pollen cake beside the Laundry Pavilion next to Ai Siqi’s Former Residence in Heshun Ancient Town. It only costs 1 yuan apiece.
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