Through numerous foodie adventures over the past year and change, I’ve fallen in love with many new foods. My mouth waters at the thought of salty garlicky bun cha in Hanoi and spicy succulent khao kha moo in Thailand and soft pungent French cheeses. And of course, who can forget my ultimate profession of love to the pierogis of Poland? But even with all the newly discovered favorites, when it comes to comfort food, there is still nothing, nothing, that warms my soul as much as my favorite childhood dishes.
I grew up on a hearty diet of home cooked traditional Chinese foods, first lovingly made by my grandma in Beijing and then by my mom in the States. Half a world removed from our family and culture, it was especially important to my mom to preserve the Chinese recipes she grew up on and raise her family on traditional values and food.
I remember that on weekend days, we’d make dumplings from scratch. We’d mix the filling, cut the dough into little balls, roll into rounds, and finally carefully wrap into dumplings. My mom taught me how to dampen and fold the edges in such a way that they won’t come apart during cooking. Each batch was a serious labor of love.
But of course, as time went on and our personal schedules got fuller, hand rolled dough got replaced by store bought wrappers and then got replaced altogether by store bought frozen dumplings. And of course, being across the globe, it was impossible to completely replicate the recipes for the more specialty dishes. But in order to bring a bit of Beijing into our American home, we learned to make do with tinned sauces and frozen wrappers.
And after I moved out on my own, Chinese dumpling houses became my go-to for any cravings. But no matter how hard I searched, I could not find anything even near par with my grandma’s noodles. While D happily slurped up his bowl, I’d sigh with disappointment. “This isn’t good,” I’d say. “You haven’t had my grandma’s.”
Who knew that I would actually take him to Beijing one day. That I would bring him to my grandma’s house, sit him down at the table, and say “this is my favorite dish. This is what I grew up on.” That I would giddily watch him take the first bite and witness his look of absolute delight as his taste buds made contact.
Today, I want to bring all of you with me too. I want to give you a (unfortunately, virtual only) taste of my favorite childhood dishes. So without further ado, come with me as I revisit my grandma’s kitchen!
Zhajiangmian (Beijing noodles)
This is a traditional Beijing noodle (it’s like the bolognese of Beijing) and it’s my absolute favorite dish in the world!
The black sauce is made of slightly sweet fermented soybean and is cooked with onion, garlic, and ground pork. The sauce on its own packs a punch and is rather salty, so don’t forget the most important part: the veggie mix-ins. The most popular ones are bean sprouts, cucumber slices, and shredded cabbage. These balance out the taste a bit and also add extra texture to the noodles.
And here’s an insider extra: if you’re a true Beijinger, you’d chow down the noodles in between bites of raw garlic. You’ll find that Beijingers love to accompany dough-type foods with raw garlic, whether it’s whole cloves or minced into a dipping sauce.
This is the one dish that I have never ever found a good replicate of in the States. I could not tell you how happy I was to finally eat my grandma”s version again.
Spring rolls
You can think of this as a Chinese burrito! A good wrapper should be very soft and thin, but still a little chewy. My grandma makes the best ones! It’s really an art to get them that thin.
This meal is prepared with a huge spread of dishes. What’s served is usually up to personal taste and preference, but typically, there will always be a few staples: scrambled eggs with leek, stir fried tofu strips, vermicelli, and bean sprouts. For meat, we had roasted duck, chicken, and a couple different types of ham. The traditional spread is tianmianjiang, simliar to the same sweet black bean sauce used in the noodles above. Raw strips of spring onion provide a crunch and spice note. Delicious!
Meat pancakes
I’m not sure if there’s a better translation for this, because this is certainly not the fluffy buttermilk pancakes or the thin crepe-y pancakes you’re used to.
Chinese pancakes are made of rolled dough and pan fried in oil until just slightly crisped on the surface. Green onion pancakes are a popular breakfast choice and are one of my favorites, but I can never pass up its heartier cousin, the meat pancakes!
These meat pancakes actually take some skill to make as minced pork is sandwiched in between multiple layers of dough. It’s important to roll out each layer paper thin so the entire pancake is still soft and not too doughy. If you look closely and try to count the layers, there are an impressive 8 of them here! This is one of my grandma’s specialty dishes!
Again, as true Beijingers, we eat these pancakes dipped in black vinegar with raw minced garlic (and whole cloves on the side if you need more). Sensing a theme here?
Dumplings
You didn’t think I would leave dumplings off this list, did you? Zhajiangmian may be my favorite dish in the world, but dumplings are the one thing I could probably eat every single day for the rest of my life.
Traditionally, a family sends someone off on a journey with dumplings, so at the very end of our stay in Beijing, my grandma hosted our send-off meal with a large dumpling feast.
As per my request, she made dill and pork dumplings, my favorite filling combination ever. I don’t think dumplings need any more elaboration!
Are you surprised yet that we eat dumplings with black vinegar and garlic? ;)
To accompany the dumplings, she made a few traditional Chinese home dishes: bittermelon with duck, tomato with egg, ginger battered fish, and sour cucumbers. The idea was that each dish would hit one flavor note: bitter, sweet, spicy, and sour.
It was the perfect way to end our time in Beijing, a home cooked meal of all my favorite dishes.
Eating at Grandma’s is like dining at the world’s coziest restaurant. I was so happy to be able to bring D there and have him eat the exact same dishes I grew up eating. There is perhaps no better intimacy than to show someone a slice of your childhood, and to share it with D, it truly made this trip special beyond words.
I hope you enjoyed this little peak into the dishes of my childhood. And now, tell me, what are you favorite childhood dishes?
This post is linked up to my friend Upasna’s blog-along. This month’s theme: Comfort Foods! If you’d like to join in on the blog-along, the theme is announced on the first Sunday of each month!
Love this post. Not only am I starving, but I’m super nostalgic for your childhood!
Aww thanks Polly! Putting it together made me so nostalgic too and made me wish that I had some of those dumplings right now!
Anna those dumplings look amazing, I’d love to taste them. Those pancakes look good too. It was great to find you through #BlogAlong
Thanks so much for stopping by Lynn! The Chinese pancakes are probably my favorite kind of “pancakes”. And yes, I miss my grandma’s dumplings!!
Look at all those affectionately handmade dumplings, one after another – I wish I could try some of your grandma’s food!! I also like the analogies you’ve made to help us understand to burritos and spaghetti bolognese! My Mum has done really well at bringing over all the traditional foods that she grew up eating in India even to our lives in England, I havevn’t picked up too much myself and the older I get, the more I realise I should learn these traditional family recipes as the traditional such a part of our heritage, isn’t it? :)
I wish I could bring you too to try some! We are lucky that in the States there’s a large Chinese population so we can get most of the stuff there. The only thing is that I just cannot find the noodles in the States like how my grandma makes it!! I know how to make some of the more simple dishes, but not like my mom. I should learn too!
Wow!!!!! I love this so much Anna! My grandma made the absolute best Taiwanese food, but alas, it was back when I was too little to help!
Why is it that Grandma’s cooking is always the best! :)
What a beautiful post… I completely know what you mean about preserving the culture and history through food. It’s so so important. I think the memories we make with food are the longest lasting :)
And on a foodie note: I heart spring rolls. Always have. Always will.
I completely agree… most of my memories are of the food and meal experiences I’ve had, ha! Chinese spring rolls are really good. They’re one of my favorite meals too!
Gorgeous! There is just nothing like grandma’s cooking. How wonderful that you got to experience it again, and to share it with D. x
It was so special to finally share it with him, and he agreed with me that the noodles are the best he’s ever had! Grandma’s really make the best food!
And the best part is that there is absolutely no recipe. Instead of making those food with 500g of this and 4 tablespoons of that, they are made with unconditional love! Of course nothing comes close! :D
Exactly! :) Sigh, if only I can have some of those noodles and dumplings right now!
Annaaaaaa!! Your post is making my mouth water!! I want to eat everything on your list. Please tell your grandmother that she will soon have a very hungry Indian to feed soon.
I love noodles! My absolute favorite! I can have it any time of the day or night. I have been brought up a vegetarian as my family is vegetarian. I started eating meat only when I was in college and cooking meat after I got married. Even though I love meat now, I am true to my veggies. So when you say that your noodles has a lot of veggies.. it makes me a very happy person! :)
Having food that your granny makes or your mum makes is the best feeling in the world! Like you, my parents and I were always on the move when I was growing up. Fortunately we were in the country and were able to visit the grandparents once a year. Thank god for those few weeks in a year and my parents efforts to preserve our culture while we were far away, that my brother are close to our roots… and our food :)
Again, thank you so much for participating in the #BlogAlong. We would love to have you back next month.
Cheers!
Thanks so much for reading Pooja, and so happy to discover your blog too!
Noodles are my favorite too, along with dumplings! I can eat them every single day too, if only I wouldn’t get fat, lol.
I absolutely agree that grandma’s and mom’s food are always the best, no matter how many good restaurants there are! I’m really glad I grew up on traditional Chinese dishes. I can only imagine how good the food your grandma makes. I absolutely love Indian food (one of my favorites!). We can trade grannys for a bit if we ever visit each other’s home countries. ;)
what a wonderful tribute to your grandma, and how blessed you are to have a grandma who can care for you and express love to you via food. =) i never had the privilege of meeting any of my grandparents since most of my family died in cambodia during the war, so i really enjoy reading posts like these because it gives me insight to what it may have been like, had i known them.
those dumplings look so pretty by the way. i just cannot replicate the ‘pinch’ the way that your grandma dose. i watched my aunt make dumplings and she does it sooo fast; when i try to fold them it just looks messy. and i bet your grandmas taste even better than they look. =)
The dumplings I make aren’t as pretty as my grandma’s either. As long as the filling doesn’t come out while cooking, then it’s all good. :)
I’m always really sad to think about how your family lost lives during that period :(. I hope your parents preserved the family dishes/recipes and you were able to grow up on them. The love can always be passed down through food. :)
aww.. thanks so much Anna. you know, i hadn’t really thought about it that way, to pass down dishes and recipes via food. i only know how to receive love via food.. =P i should be more proactive about learning how to cook family recipes, thanks for the great suggestion. =)
Oh wow! What a wonderful way to end your trip and to enjoy some family time :)
It was! I was so glad to be able to take D to my grandma’s and have him eat the food I grew up on!
I wish I had a Chinese grandma! And why have I never seen spring rolls like this?! They look amazing – like way better than anything else ever called a “spring roll.”
I’ll take any excuse I can to eat more raw garlic. Those noodles though – “favorite dish in the world” is a bold statement, and after all you’ve eaten I trust your opinion. I bet this is such a fun meal!
These kind of spring rolls are the best!! I don’t think we ever had the small deep fried spring rolls in my family. It was always these kind of fresh wraps.
Yay another raw garlic lover!! If you ever go to Beijing, you have to try zhajiangmian. You can find it at most dumpling + noodle houses (though I still think my grandma’s is the best). I miss it so much right now!
Beautiful post, Anna! And what delicious looking food :) Oh my! I love how taste brings back so many memories and associations. Thanks for sharing your grandma’s delights with us!
I’m glad you enjoyed it Marcella! All these bring back so many memories of the time I spent in Beijing. I wish I could carry all these dishes with me everywhere!
Beautifully written as always, Anna :) I love how we can have such a strong emotional connection to food, because what we were brought up on will always be a part of who we are. And all of these dishes are making my mouth water! I wish I could try everything!
Thanks so much Courtney! I think our childhood dishes will always be the most special to us. I wish you could try these traditional household Chinese dishes too!