Chinese cuisine to warm the soul this winter

The cold winter months are an ideal time to prepare warm, restorative dishes that can fortify the soul.

A range of ingredients are believed to rejuvenate the body, according to Chinese culinary tradition.

Meat features prominently in such dishes, but there are usually plenty of delectable vegetarian options available as well as majestic hot pots.

Chicken delights

"No banquet is complete without chicken," according to an age-old Cantonese proverb, and so it's perhaps not surprising that poultry features prominently in many Chinese winter dishes.

Hakka pepper chicken in pig's stomach can almost be described as a soulful pot of intensity.

In this dish, a whole chicken is carefully wrapped inside a cleaned pig's stomach and slowly simmered with white peppercorns, ginger, goji berries and other herbs.

The result is a creamy, milky broth bursting with aroma, with tender strips of chicken and chewy tripe that warms from within.

Turning to a mainstay of Macanese cuisine, Portuguese chicken isn't what it sounds like.

It's a dish that is born of Portuguese colonial influence but is distinctly local, blending coconut milk, curry, turmeric and baked potatoes in a sauce that turns pan-fried chicken golden with red hues.

Aromatic and subtly spicy, the dish can be described as a showstopper.

From the Tibetan Plateau comes stone pot chicken, a specialty from the Lulang grasslands in China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

In this dish, highland chicken is simmered with matsutake mushrooms, ginseng root and goji berries in a hand-carved stone pot filled with alpine spring water.

The stone pot's heat retention properties give the ingredients an earthy, herbal taste.

Luscious lamb

According to latest Stats NZ data, an estimated 23.6 million sheep are registered on farms nationwide - roughly 4.5 animals per person.

In short, one could say there's plenty of lamb to go around.

In traditional Chinese medicine, lamb is classified as a "yang" ingredient - ideal for expelling cold and replenishing energy.

Taiwanese mutton hotpot is a dish that uses mountain goat simmered with medicinal herbs such as angelica root and red dates.

Tofu skin, daikon, napa cabbage and enoki mushrooms are then added to create a bubbling cauldron that fills the body with warmth.

Meanwhile, lamb offal soup can typically be found in Chinese provinces such Shaanxi, Ningxia and Henan.

The dish is renowned for its depth of flavour, with various lamb offal cooked in a peppery broth, completed with handfuls of coriander and liberal dashes of white pepper and served with flat noodles or vermicelli.

A more delicate expression comes from Ningxia province in the form of steamed lamb with rice powder.

Finely sliced young lamb is marinated, coated in seasoned ground rice and steamed until meltingly soft.

Heavenly beef

With its rich flavor and nourishing qualities, beef takes center stage in many Chinese winter dishes.

Sichuan boiled beef is not for the faint of heart and yet is perfect fare for winter warriors.

Thin slices of beef are flash-boiled in a bubbling broth of chili oil, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic and bean paste - a fiery, numbing experience that sends blood rushing to one's extremities.

Meanwhile, a simpler potato-and-beef stew from northeastern China echoes Hungarian goulash. This dish is chunky, wholesome and perfect for sharing on a cold winter night.

Steaming hot pots

Few things say "winter" like gathering around a bubbling hot pot.

A Chongqing/Sichuan-style beef tallow hot pot is a red inferno of beef tallow, chili, peppercorns and beef bone broth. Packed with lamb or beef, tofu, seafood and vegetables, the soup almost takes on a life of its own.

Winter evenings in Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province typically feature a Cantonese hot pot, with a broth that includes adaptogenic herbs such as codonopsis root, Chinese yam and astragalus, or sweet combinations of sugar cane, water chestnuts and honey dates.

The hot pot is filled with indulgent ingredients such as abalone, oysters, crab, handmade beef balls, minced shrimp, tender San Huang (Three Yellows) chicken or thinly sliced beef and lamb.

The dipping sauces are just as diverse, reflecting the flavors of the southern coast - fish sauce, satay, soy sauce with sliced green chili rings all make an appearance.

The traditional Beijing-style copper hot pot is believed to date back to Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.

The traditional setup of this dish calls for a charcoal fire and a copper pot, which heats quickly and evenly. Hand-cut paper-thin slices of lamb are then swished through a light broth, often flavored with ginger and scallions, allowing the meat's freshness to shine.

The classic dipping sauce for this dish combines sesame paste with chive flower sauce, fermented bean curd and chili oil.

Served alongside napa cabbage, tofu, glass noodles and ideally a bottle of Erguotou (a distilled northern Chinese alcoholic beverage), this age-old ritual remains a beloved way to fend off the bitterly cold northern wind.

Nourishing vegetarian fare

For a softer approach to winter nourishment, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine offers comfort and balance.

Luo han zhai is a classic temple dish made with 18 different plant-based ingredients.

Traditionally, it features a harmonious mix of three mushroom varieties, six kinds of fungus and nine types of bamboo shoots - including shiitake, wood ear, silver ear, and winter and asparagus bamboo shoots.

In home kitchens, other versions may include such ingredients as morels, lotus seeds, snow peas and cellophane noodles, delivering in a vibrant, refreshing, and well-balanced dish.

Another vegetarian favourite is four happiness kao fu, a beloved Shanghainese Chinese New Year staple.

The main ingredient - soft, spongy baked wheat gluten - soaks up the savoury-sweet braising liquid and is paired with ingredients such as enoki mushrooms, black fungus, winter bamboo shoots and peanuts.

Meanwhile, kung pao king oyster mushrooms is a vegetarian dish that salutes the globally popular kung pao chicken.

Diced king oyster mushrooms are stir-fried with dried chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and peanuts. The result? A dish that is silky, chewy, crispy, spicy, tangy and a touch sweet - proof that authentic comfort food doesn't need to rely on meat.

The main event

Few dishes capture the soul of winter street food like claypot rice with cured meats - a dish that is universally adored in communities stretching from Hong Kong and Macau to Southeast Asia.

Cooked to order in a clay pot, the rice soaks up the rich, savoury oils of Cantonese sausage, bacon or dried duck.

The rice at the bottom of the clay pot almost caramelises in a crunchy crust that has a smoky taste. Add a few stalks of blanched greens on the side and you have a soul-warming winter treat.

Yunnan guoqiao mixian ("crossing the bridge" rice noodles) is a dish that features a fragrant, steaming broth that has been simmered for hours with old chicken and pork bones until clear and rich, with a golden layer of chicken fat deliberately added to lock in the heat.

Thinly sliced meat, crisp vegetables and silky rice noodles are then immersed in the broth until cooked.

The broth is kept above 70 degrees Celsius, allowing the soup and ingredients to blend together gently. Rice noodles are then added to accentuate the chicken's essence.

Last, but not least, there are dumplings - a quintessential winter comfort food in northern China. Whether filled with chives and pork, onion and beef, napa cabbage and shrimp, or shiitake and chicken, they are dropped into bubbling water until tender and bursting with steam.

Whether handmade and enjoyed with family around a kitchen table or bought from a roadside vendor in a swirl of steam, dumplings create a special kind of togetherness on a cold winter's day.