Chinese Dishes for Hot Summers

This is a hot summer Chinese dishes collection.

It is quite hot in China now and hot summer days are bad times for cook. Though we have an air-conditioner in our kitchen, I still feel hard to stand in front of the hot stove. So this is a recipe collection of those dishes Elaine loves to cook in hot summer days. Most of them are easy to prepare and can be served cool or chilled.

Hot summer desserts

Coconut Milk Pudding | this is one of our favorite energy bites in the afternoon. In most of Chinese families, porridge or congee is the staple food in every meal. So we need to enjoy some between meal desserts.

Mung Bean Cake (Mung Bean Paste) |Mung bean cake is  made from spilt mung beans. In Chinese Traditional Medicine, mung bean has a cool attribute, which can help to reduce the body hotness.

Water Chestnut Cake | this is  made from water chestnut flour and fresh water chestnut. It is a popular dessert served in dim sum hall.

Red Bean Soup with Taro Balls| Traditionally red bean soup with taro balls is a popular dessert originated from Taiwan. However you may see the dessert shop providing red bean soup with taro balls, or red bean soup with tofu pudding everywhere in China now.

Chinese Mango Pudding | This mango pudding is quite popular in Chinese dessert shops where lots of yummy and interesting dishes are served for example this sticky rice balls over mango smoothie, red bean soup and nuomici.

Quick cold side dishes

Chinese Five Spice Edamame | fresh green soybeans are now on the market in China. We usually boil the cute lovely beans with salt and some spices, serving as afternoon snack.

Wood Ear Mushroom Salad (凉拌黑木耳) | hot and sour wood ear mushroom salad with soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil.

Chinese Pickled Cucumber with Soy Sauce and Vinegar| Chinese Pickled vegetables (酱黄瓜)are always one of my favorite dishes in hot summer days. Usually they are easy to prepare and have a strong unique aroma after fermentation. Another reason we may fall in love with pickled vegetables is that they can boost our appetite.

Cold Tofu (Liangban Tofu) | An easy cold tofu salad with savory sesame dressing.

Chinese Cucumber Salad–Smashed Version | Chinese smashed cucumber salad with garlic, vinegar and sesame oil. This is one of the most popular homemade cold dishes in China, which only requires 5 minutes from preparation to table.

Stuffed Lotus Root with Sticky Rice | Sweet stuffed lotus root with sticky rice, highlighted by the strong aroma of osmanthus fragrans syrup. 

Sesame Chinese Long Beans | Cold Chinese long beans salad with sesame paste.

Sichuan Style Pork Slices | Szechuan style pork slices with a spicy Szechuan dressing made from garlic, chili oil, soy sauce and vinegar.

Liangpi – Cold Skin Noodles | Famous Xi’an food-Liangpi (cold skin noodles) has been my best memories in university life. I have been eating this dish all the summer of this year after I learnt how to cook it at home.

White Cut Chicken|Chinese Poached Chicken | Cantonese poached chicken with super tender texture and an interesting name—White cut chicken.

Szechuan Cold Noodles |Szechuan style cold noodle (Vegan version) is known as Szechuan Liangmian. With a long history, it is been known as one of most famous Szechuan street snack. Generally, this can be known as a simplified and cold version of Dan Dan Noodles. However it will never disappoint you by the taste.

Chinese Eggplant Salad Recipe | spiced savory eggplants salad is a health way to cook eggplants in summer.  Eggplants are steamed firstly and then served with a typical Szechuan style sauce.

Beverage & Soup

Grass Jelly (cincau) | Grass jelly (仙草烧) is a sweet dessert, popular in Hong Kong, Southern China and Taiwan area. Traditionally, we boil leaves and stalks from a plant named Mesona Chinensis with a small amount of starch or rice flour to make grass jelly. After cooling down, the liquid will firm into a jelly like texture. However, this method cannot be popular in our daily life as it is quite time-consuming. In order to simplify the process, there are popular canned grass jelly (outside China) and powdered grass jelly (in and outside China).

Mung Bean Soup | Mung bean soup is a traditional summer soup dessert in China. You can find the packaged ones in almost every freezer of the street store or freshly stewed ones in hot pot restaurants. Mung bean is believed to be beneficial to human body as it can help to reduce the hotness because of the cold attribute.

Bubble (Boba) Tea Recipe | Bubble tea (Bubble Milk Tea) is the most popular daily street drink in China especially among young girls. In almost shopping centers in main Chinese cities. You can serve after chilled in summer.