Southeast Asia is famous for having such delicious dishes such as Thai, Vietnamese, and Indonesian. But, Chinese influence played a big role on making different dishes across Southeast Asia so good and flavorful. Here’s the Chinese heavy culinary influence on dishes across Southeast Asian countries.
Indonesia
The influence of Chinese culinary in Indonesia dated back thousands of years. Not only they introduced various techniques and recipes, the Chinese are the ones who taught native Indonesians that they can fry ingredients using oil. Before that, Indonesians cooked their food with only two methods which are grilling and boiling.
The most popular cooking technique the Chinese introduced to Indonesian is the stir-frying. This cooking techinique essential to make several popular Chinese dishes in Indonesia such as the Capcay which is stir-fried vegetables dish which often mixed with meat such as chicken or beef, or the Kwetiau which is a delicious dish made with flat rice noodles.
There are so many Indonesian dishes that are variations of original Chinese dishes. Nasi Goreng or fried rice is a famous Indonesian dish, which was introduced by the Chinese. When you’re in Indonesia, you would hear the syllable ‘bak’ in dishes’ name such as ‘bakmi’, ‘bakpao’, or ‘bakso’. ‘Bak’ itself means pork in Hokkien, but most of this ‘bak’ dishes don’t use pork anymore since most Indonesians are Muslims.
Viet Nam
Probably the most famous dish from Viet Nam is Pho, which is a soup dish made with herbs, rice noodles, broth and meat or tofu. Even though Pho is a Vietnamese signature dish, it shares its roots with various noodle soups from China such as Chow Mein and also Lamian. The use of noodles, herbs and beef or chicken could be traced back to its Chinese influence.
Chinese culinary influence could also be tasted in Vietnamese breads and dumplings. Banh Bao is a famous Vietnamese steamed bun filled with vegetables, egg and pork which is very similar to the Chinese Baozi. Another example of this is Banh Xeo which is version of crepe form China which would typically be filled with prok, shrimp and bean sprouts.
Thailand
Thai food is so famous around the world for its delicious taste. One of the most famous Thai dishes is the Pad Thai which is a dish made with rice noodles, vegetables, eggs and other additional ingredients that is a perfect combination of salty, sour and sweet. Pad Thai couldn’t be made without the stir-frying technique which was originated in China.
It is pretty clear that Pad Thai has its influence from the Chinese Chow Mein. The combination of rice noodles, shrimp, peanuts and tamarind sauce is reflecting a harmonious and delicious blend of culinary traditions from both Thailand and China.
Have you seen the famous Thai Netflix show titled ‘Hunger’? In that show you, could see that the wok is crucial in Thai culinary world. The important cooking tool was introduced in Thailand by the Chinese which is perfect for making various dishes that need to be stir-fried.
Malaysia
Malaysia also profited from the Chinese culinary influence on their dishes. One of the most famous Malaysian dish, Laksa, has strong Chinese influence. Laksa is spicy noodle soup made with noodles, coconut milk, herbs, and some protein sources such as prawns, fish, chicken, tofu or the combination of some or all of them.
There are two main types of Laksa, Asam Laksa which is tamarind-based and Curry Laksa which is coconut milk-based. The Curry Laksa is heavily influenced by the Chinese cooking techniques and also spices. Laksa is the best Malaysian dish if you want to taste and feel the best of both Malaysian and Chinese culinary.
