Flavorful Origins – Yunnan Cuisine
Explore the diverse flavors of China's Yunnan province and get to know the cooks and ingredients that shape its rich culinary tradition.
Episodes
Dairy Products
Yunnan is known for a variety of dairy products, including Dali rushan: thinly sliced cheese that can be fried, grilled or dipped in honey.
Nan Piӗ
A local wild berry features in nanpie, which refers t different types of flavorful pastes made from mashed vegetables or fish.
Sa Piӗ
Sa is a culinary tradition that pairs cold meat or raw vegetables with a versatile sauce that is often mixed with pig blood curd.
Lacquer Seed Oil
Derived from the fruits of the Chinese lacquer tree, qiyou is an oil used to cook eggs, congee, pork stew, roast chicken and even bee larvae.
Ham
Found in local moon cake fillings, Xuanwei cured ham can be thinly sliced, steamed, cooked with egg, stewed or served as cold cuts.
Pickled Vegetables
Salted and partially dried, the sow thistle can be pickled and stir-fried with pork to lend a sour, crunchy flavour, or added to white radish stew.
Hardy Banana
Wrapped in leaves with a sticky rice or spiced fish, the Musa basjoo – a banana found in Yunnan – can make for a sweet snack or savoury dish.
Sour Fruits
Besides being an appetite stimulant, tart fruits like lemon and sour papaya can be added to shredded chicken, carp or a sauce for dousing live shrimp.
Rice Cake
The er, a flattened rice flour cake, can be backed into a sticky snack, sliced and stir-fried with vegetables or julienned into noodle-like strands.
Salted Flour
Zha, an old custom, is an assortment of dried fermented vegetables or fish served as side dishes, made with ancient methods of food preservation.