Part two of the breakfast series highlights foods that are often found as part of a traditional Chinese breakfast.
Chinese
Information provided by: Kou Fong Kwok (originally from Shanghai, China) & Kristine Louie
Kou Fong’s story: Growing up in Shanghai, China, a typical breakfast always included a hot bowl of congee. Congee was good for cold winter days, but still good early in the mornings during the summer. A large pot of congee would take about 1 hour to 1.5 hours to simmer and cook. Different villages would add different ingredients to their congee to add flavour. However, in Shanghai, we cooked our congee plain and ate it with many side dishes. Most side dishes were preserved or fried as most families did not have refrigerators to keep food cold. Some side dishes eaten with congee were:
- Sautéed preserved cabbage and bamboo
- Cold tofu with sesame oil and soy sauce
- Preserved egg
- Chinese pickles
- Steamed egg
- Salted egg
- Deep-fried peanuts
- Chinese donuts
- Pork fluff
Kristine’s story: I remember being a kid and setting up an assembly line to prepare our Chinese steamed BBQ pork buns. My aunt would come over and together, with my mom, grandma and the kids, we would take on the task of preparing the buns. It would be a fun-filled day spent with family members across all generations. My grandma’s recipe always made 5-6 dozen buns so there was enough for everyone to take home a batch. The buns freeze well and are easy to pull out for a quick snack or addition to breakfast.
Get the family together and make your own Chinese steamed BBQ pork buns today!
Re-visit part one of the breakfast series for a South Asian inspired breakfast.