Hunan Street Food

5 dishes in China

5 street foods from Hunan, China: Anhua Dark Tea, Changsha Chou Doufu, Tang You Baba, Changsha Mifen and Kouwei Xia. Each one has its own page with the story behind it and what to look for.

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Street foods of Hunan

Caravan Trade Staple · Dark Tea Anhua (安化) Dark Tea Compressed into bricks, it was once used as currency and rations along caravan routes into northwest China and Mongolia. Anhua dark tea is a fermented, earthy tea pressed into bricks and cakes in Hunan's Anhua county, brewed strong and often boiled rather than steeped. It's sold in tea shops and roadside…

Snack · Deep-fried Changsha Chou Doufu (Changsha Stinky Tofu) Mao Zedong is widely quoted praising it as 'smells stinky, tastes fragrant' — a line still printed on tofu-stall signs in Changsha today. Tofu is fermented for days in a brine of vegetables and herbs until it turns black and pungent, then deep-fried until crisp outside and custardy inside.

Dessert · Deep-fried Tang You Baba (Sweet Fried Rice Cake) Legend traces the recipe to a filial official who invented it specifically to feed his ailing mother. A dough of glutinous rice flour is shaped into small discs and deep-fried until golden, then coated in a rich, caramelized sugar syrup, sometimes scented with osmanthus.

Noodle · Boiled, in broth Changsha Mifen (Changsha Rice Noodles) Changsha diners order by the topping, called mazi — braised pork, shredded pork or pickled beans are ladled over the same noodles and broth. Round or flat rice noodles are boiled and served in a pork bone broth, topped with stir-fried pickled long beans and minced pork, chili oil, and scallion. 🦞 Night Market · Spicy Crayfish Kouwei Xia (Hunan Spicy Crayfish) The dish is young: it first appeared at Changsha's Nanmenkou in the 1990s, then spread across the city and the whole province. Whole small crayfish are stir-fried hard with lots of chili, Sichuan pepper and perilla leaves, then simmered in their spicy sauce. Diners pull them apart by hand, and the small claws are…

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Part of World of Street Food — 3441 dishes from 118 countries. Photo credits.