Stir-Fried Jelly Noodles (Chao Liangfen)

Stir-fried jelly is made from mung-bean or pea starch jelly, cut into cubes and pan-fried with scallion, garlic and bean paste until the translucent white pieces turn lightly crisp outside while staying soft and slippery inside.

Said to have been popular in Kaifeng since the Song dynasty, it is a thousand-year-old street food still found at the city's night-market stalls today.

Served hot, crisp outside and tender within, savory and satisfying, it is eaten as a late-night bite or side dish—a homely flavor woven into local memory.

It is defined by the crisp-edged, tender, glassy-smooth texture of pan-fried mung-bean jelly.