Dali Food

Food in Dali is most well-known for traditional dishes cooked by the Bai People, one of the city's ethnic minority groups. The basic taste this cuisine is sour, sweet and light spicy. San Dao Cha and Rushan are must-try food and other famous dishes also include Sand Pot Fish, Stewed Chicken, Ersi and Erquai, Xizhou Pie, Heqing Rice Cake, etc. Of course, Dali also offers numerous foods from around Yunnan Province and other Chinese delicacies.

San Dao Cha (Three Courses Tea) is tea drinking ceremony involving three servings and the best places to sample the tea ceremony is Yan's Compound in Xizhou Village. Rushan is local food made of the milk in the shape of a fan. Stewed Chicken is one of the most famous dishes in Dali seasoned with Chinese prickly ash, Caoguo, garlic, dried capsicum, ginger, and so on.

Every time when people are asked about the most famous dish in Dali, they would first of all think about Yongping Stewed Chicken.Before people cook Yongping Stewed Chicken, they would choose local chickens produced in the mountain area of Yongping. In the cooking, more than ten seasonings will be used and they include: high-quality Chinese prickly ash, Caoguo, garlic, dried capsicum, ginger, and so on.

Ersi is somewhat like rice noodle. It is slender and good to eat. When eating Erquai, you have to put some thick chilli sauce or minced meat sauce onto two pieces of cakes, and put them together. Erquai has a tender flavor, and is good to smell.

It tastes sweet, soft, crisp, oily but not greasy. The pies are not too hot nor too cold, and are convenient to carry about.

Rushan is made of the milk produced by local cows. It has a shape of a fan. Rushan does not only taste good, but is also nourishing. It contains many substances necessary to human bodies such as protein and amino acid. It can also regulate people��s lifeblood, soothe the nerves and strengthen the appetite, and thus is an ideal food to strengthen your corporeity and keep you fit.

Sand-pot fish is a famous local dish of Dali. Put slender chicken and more than ten seasonings like dried mushrooms into the sand-pot. Then add some bow fish or carp caught in Erhai Lake into the pot. Stew them slowly.

Heqing Rice Cake is made elaborately. There are two kinds of Heqing Rice Cake: dry cakes and water cakes. Among the dry cakes Xiqing Dry Cakes are the best. There are two kinds of Xiqing Dry Cakes: cakes with interlayers and colourful cakes.