Snacks of Beijing

Snacks of Beijing can fall into three varieties: Han, Hui and imperial snacks, which are generally prepared by steaming, deep frying, frying in shallow oil, and instant boiling. Some people regard snacks of Beijing as "living fossils." Now snack restaurants can be found all over Beijing, such as Longfusi and Huguosi snack counters. Quick boiled Tripe Man, Chatang Li and Wonton Hou.

Typical Beijing snacks
Douzhi (mung bean milk), Jiaoquan (crisply fried ring of dough), Aiwowo (steamed cone-shaped cake made of glutinous rice or millet with sweet filling), Chatang (paste or custard made of millet or sorghum flour), Ludagun (pastry made of steamed glutinous millet flour or soy bean flour mixed with sugar), sweet baked cakes, pea flour cakes, walnut cakes, small corn buns, eight-treasure rice, fried cakes made of glutinous rice flour, etc.

Zhimaqiu (Sesame Balls)
Fried rice balls stuffed with a sweet filling, usually red bean paste or lotus paste and covered in sesame seeds. This is popular northeastern Chinese snack and still very popular in Beijing. Best served warm.

Wandouhuang (Pea Flour Cake)
Prepared with white peas, pea flour cake is a typical snack in spring. Pea flour cakes, kidney bean cakes and small corn buns were well-known imperial snacks in ancient China.

Made with white peas, pea flour cake is a favorite springtime snack, and was very popular among members of the imperial court. A good pea flour cake should have a loose consistency; the taste should be refreshing, but not sweet.

Aiwowo (Steamed Cone-shaped Cake)
Steamed cone-shaped cakes made of glutinous rice or millet with sweet filling first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, and were well received by the imperial families in the Ming Dynasty. Now it is one of Beijing‘s snacks loved by local people.

A court snack during the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), sticky rice balls have disseminated to the masses. Sticky rice, a special variety of rice, is first steamed, then pounded to a doughy consistency, shaped into a ball, and then stuffed with a sweet filling and dusted with rice flour. The usual fillings are sesame and white sugar, pea flour, jujube paste, or red bean paste. The result is an opaque, smooth-looking, chewy ball of sweetness.

Douzhi (Mung bean Milk)
Beijing has a long history of making mung bean milk. As early as in the Liao (907-1125) and Song (960-1279) dynasties, mung bean milk was very popular. Local people of Beijing love to drink mung bean milk, because it is rich in protein, vitamin C and rough fiber and helps drive away summer heat, invigorate the function of the spleen and whet the appetite.

Probably the most famous Beijing snack, mung bean milk is actually the fluid remnants of the mung bean noodle making process. It looks grayish-green, tastes mostly sour with a tinge of sweetness, and has a peculiar odor – it's definitely an acquired taste. First-timers often drink mung bean milk accompanied with a few Chinese-style pickle wedges, which locals say makes it easier to go down.

Youtiao (Sweetened Fried Bread Twists)
People in Beijing love to eat this treat in the morning. It is often served with warm doujiang (soy milk). Though it is harder to find youtiao and doujiang these days there are still many restaurants and small shops that offer it in the early morning.

Ludagun (Pastry Made of Soy Bean Flour)
As one of the ancient snacks of Beijing, Ludagun is mainly made of soybean flour mixed with sugar. It is a popular snack in Beijing.

A Beijing snack with a Muslim origin, rolling donkey refers to a kind of cake made with steamed glutinous millet or steamed sticky rice, filled with red pea, and then drizzled over with fried bean flour. After being cut into blocks, the cake is rolled in soybean flour, looking like a donkey rolling on the ground raising dust, hence the name.

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