Improving Your Restaurant

Four Vegan Friendly Chinese Food Options

16 May 2017

Julia Payne

If you're a vegan, then you understand how difficult it can be to order take out food. Many places don't offer vegan food. Things are either covered in cheese, or cooked with meat or fish. However, one place you can find a variety of vegan foods on the menu is a fast food Chinese restaurant. Some of this is due to the cultural background of the cuisine; in China many people substitute on mainly vegetables, so they have created a wide repertoire of vegetable based dishes (much like Indian cuisine). So, the next time you are looking to order from a Chinese restaurant, here's a few ideas to consider.

Buddhas Delight

This dish gets it's name due to the fact that is was originally designed for Buddhist monks. These monks tended to be vegetarian, so the meals did not include animal products. They were instead filled with lots of steamed vegetables and tofu. It's very popular with diet conscious people as well because it's not fried and there are not heavy, oily sauces used. It's a nice dish that includes lots of steamed green vegetables, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, peas, and tofu.

General Tso Tofu

This is a variation on the famous General Tso's Chicken. In this dish, the chicken is replaced with tofu. The sauce made with soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and cornstarch, along with some chili peppers. This makes it a great dish for vegetarians who can't eat many dishes that are made with fish sauce. The tofu and sauce combo is very rich, so it's often served with rice.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Regular egg rolls will often have shrimp or pork in them. Not to mention that the wrapper itself is made using a batter that includes eggs. However, you can get a similar item called spring rolls. These are lighter than the heavy egg rolls, and they don't have eggs, meat, or fish. You can order these and then request a ginger dipping sauce. The vegetable spring rolls might be fried, which is common in some Cantonese and Hong Kong style restaurants, or they can be served steamed.

Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

A great dish to get as a side, or as an entire meal if you combine it with brown rice, is broccoli in garlic sauce. The broccoli is steamed and then covered in a sweet garlic sauce. This sauce is made with ginger, sugar, chili peppers, and has a nice complex flavor. Sometimes you can also choose this style sauce with steamed eggplant, if you prefer that vegetable to broccoli.

For more information, you will want to check out a business such as Empress Express.

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