Handy ingredients for chinese cooking
Discussion
There are a few Chinese supermarkets around us and we basically have no idea what 90% of the ingredients are.
We're up on the basics like soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, five spice, chillies and lime juice, but what are some handy ingredients we could buy to give an authentic boost to cooking meat and veg? Thinking pastes, spice mixes, bottles of stuff, anything we could drop into an existing dish to add to the flavour.
We're up on the basics like soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, five spice, chillies and lime juice, but what are some handy ingredients we could buy to give an authentic boost to cooking meat and veg? Thinking pastes, spice mixes, bottles of stuff, anything we could drop into an existing dish to add to the flavour.
Give these a try:
Red pork powder
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lobo-Roast-Red-Pork-Seaso...
Rice Wine Vinegar
Chili Oil
Fish sauce (salty taste)
Potato starch to coat your meat before stir frying with sauce to thicken it a bit
Chinese marinade if you like a slightly weaker soy taste to marinade your meat in
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lee-Kum-Kee-Chinese-Marin...
Lots of lovely fresh smashed garlic and crunchy spring onion
It's not really about these though. The important thing is to have fresh meat and vegetables chopped appropriately to size and cooked quickly to retain the textures and flavours.
Red pork powder
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lobo-Roast-Red-Pork-Seaso...
Rice Wine Vinegar
Chili Oil
Fish sauce (salty taste)
Potato starch to coat your meat before stir frying with sauce to thicken it a bit
Chinese marinade if you like a slightly weaker soy taste to marinade your meat in
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lee-Kum-Kee-Chinese-Marin...
Lots of lovely fresh smashed garlic and crunchy spring onion
It's not really about these though. The important thing is to have fresh meat and vegetables chopped appropriately to size and cooked quickly to retain the textures and flavours.
As someone who has been cooking predominantly Northern Chinese food for 9 years (my Chinese partner is defective i.e. can't cook, won't cook - and not being Korean, came without a 7 year warranty), the main things you need to cook authentic, home cooked Chinese food are:
- rice cooker (majority of Chinese use rice cookers)
- wok
- Soy sauce light and dark (Lee Kum Kee)
- Chinese vinegar (Chin kiang black rice vinegar)
- Shaoxing wine (taijade)
- Aromatics (garlic, ginger and spring onion / leek)
- Salt
- Cornflour
That's it for essentials! However, you will probably need to have in stock:
- Sichuan peppercorns
- Dried lajiao
- Chili Bean Sauce (doubanjian - essential for mapodofu and twice-cooked pork)
Two YT Chinese cooking channels:
- Chinese cooking demystified
- Xiaoying Cuisine
I'd also recommend thewoksoflife on the web, and chinasichuanfood as well.
Easy dishes to get started:
- twice cooked pork
- mapo dofu
- Taiwanese beef noodle soup (will need an hour or so cooking time)
- Hunan stir-fried cauliflower
FWIW, I'm vegetarian and cook meat and fish for my partner. Homestyle Chinese cooking does not require hours slaving away making complex dishes. However, there are usually vegetable side dishes e.g. hunan cauliflower, stir-fried broccoli garlic, cucumber salad, etc.
You'll also need to do eggs Chinese style (very easy with tomatoes).
Absolutely no MSG!
Almost forgot: no self-respecting Chinese kitchen is complete without laoganma (preserved black bean in chili oil).
In terms of noodles, for simple broths, Rolin Taiwanese Knife Shave Noodles. Good lord! Absolutely delicious with simple stock, Chinese style eggs and tomato (laoganma on the side).
- rice cooker (majority of Chinese use rice cookers)
- wok
- Soy sauce light and dark (Lee Kum Kee)
- Chinese vinegar (Chin kiang black rice vinegar)
- Shaoxing wine (taijade)
- Aromatics (garlic, ginger and spring onion / leek)
- Salt
- Cornflour
That's it for essentials! However, you will probably need to have in stock:
- Sichuan peppercorns
- Dried lajiao
- Chili Bean Sauce (doubanjian - essential for mapodofu and twice-cooked pork)
Two YT Chinese cooking channels:
- Chinese cooking demystified
- Xiaoying Cuisine
I'd also recommend thewoksoflife on the web, and chinasichuanfood as well.
Easy dishes to get started:
- twice cooked pork
- mapo dofu
- Taiwanese beef noodle soup (will need an hour or so cooking time)
- Hunan stir-fried cauliflower
FWIW, I'm vegetarian and cook meat and fish for my partner. Homestyle Chinese cooking does not require hours slaving away making complex dishes. However, there are usually vegetable side dishes e.g. hunan cauliflower, stir-fried broccoli garlic, cucumber salad, etc.
You'll also need to do eggs Chinese style (very easy with tomatoes).
Absolutely no MSG!
Almost forgot: no self-respecting Chinese kitchen is complete without laoganma (preserved black bean in chili oil).
In terms of noodles, for simple broths, Rolin Taiwanese Knife Shave Noodles. Good lord! Absolutely delicious with simple stock, Chinese style eggs and tomato (laoganma on the side).
school of wok is another great youtube channel.
i'm afraid i'm very ignorant of what food comes from where, and lump it all in as 'asian cuisine' but i love the clean flavours.
s
take mushrooms, and star anise are current favourites to use with all the usual stuff to make a broth for slurpy noodle soups.
i'm afraid i'm very ignorant of what food comes from where, and lump it all in as 'asian cuisine' but i love the clean flavours.
s
take mushrooms, and star anise are current favourites to use with all the usual stuff to make a broth for slurpy noodle soups.If you want to recreate takeaway style stuff, have a look at Ziangs Food Workshop on youtube.
As already said, MSG is what makes the difference.
Stuff like the dried Lucky Boat noodles will allow a near perfect takeaway chow mein, which is pretty much impossible using supermarket dried noodles which turn to mush.
For chicken satay (or any other satay/sate type stuff) this stuff is amazing: https://www.myjimmysate.com/home
As already said, MSG is what makes the difference.
Stuff like the dried Lucky Boat noodles will allow a near perfect takeaway chow mein, which is pretty much impossible using supermarket dried noodles which turn to mush.
For chicken satay (or any other satay/sate type stuff) this stuff is amazing: https://www.myjimmysate.com/home
).Jimmy's Sate sauce. About 20 years ago a friend whos parents owned a takeaway recommended it to me as something they use in the takeaway, it is phenomenal. This stuff - https://www.yaubros.co.uk/products/jimmys-sate-sau...
Thank me later.
Thank me later.
putonghua73 said:
As someone who has been cooking predominantly Northern Chinese food for 9 years (my Chinese partner is defective i.e. can't cook, won't cook - and not being Korean, came without a 7 year warranty), the main things you need to cook authentic, home cooked Chinese food are:
- rice cooker (majority of Chinese use rice cookers)
- wok
- Soy sauce light and dark (Lee Kum Kee)
- Chinese vinegar (Chin kiang black rice vinegar)
- Shaoxing wine (taijade)
- Aromatics (garlic, ginger and spring onion / leek)
- Salt
- Cornflour
That's it for essentials! However, you will probably need to have in stock:
- Sichuan peppercorns
- Dried lajiao
- Chili Bean Sauce (doubanjian - essential for mapodofu and twice-cooked pork)
Two YT Chinese cooking channels:
- Chinese cooking demystified
- Xiaoying Cuisine
I'd also recommend thewoksoflife on the web, and chinasichuanfood as well.
Easy dishes to get started:
- twice cooked pork
- mapo dofu
- Taiwanese beef noodle soup (will need an hour or so cooking time)
- Hunan stir-fried cauliflower
FWIW, I'm vegetarian and cook meat and fish for my partner. Homestyle Chinese cooking does not require hours slaving away making complex dishes. However, there are usually vegetable side dishes e.g. hunan cauliflower, stir-fried broccoli garlic, cucumber salad, etc.
You'll also need to do eggs Chinese style (very easy with tomatoes).
Absolutely no MSG!
Almost forgot: no self-respecting Chinese kitchen is complete without laoganma (preserved black bean in chili oil).
In terms of noodles, for simple broths, Rolin Taiwanese Knife Shave Noodles. Good lord! Absolutely delicious with simple stock, Chinese style eggs and tomato (laoganma on the side).
Great post.- rice cooker (majority of Chinese use rice cookers)
- wok
- Soy sauce light and dark (Lee Kum Kee)
- Chinese vinegar (Chin kiang black rice vinegar)
- Shaoxing wine (taijade)
- Aromatics (garlic, ginger and spring onion / leek)
- Salt
- Cornflour
That's it for essentials! However, you will probably need to have in stock:
- Sichuan peppercorns
- Dried lajiao
- Chili Bean Sauce (doubanjian - essential for mapodofu and twice-cooked pork)
Two YT Chinese cooking channels:
- Chinese cooking demystified
- Xiaoying Cuisine
I'd also recommend thewoksoflife on the web, and chinasichuanfood as well.
Easy dishes to get started:
- twice cooked pork
- mapo dofu
- Taiwanese beef noodle soup (will need an hour or so cooking time)
- Hunan stir-fried cauliflower
FWIW, I'm vegetarian and cook meat and fish for my partner. Homestyle Chinese cooking does not require hours slaving away making complex dishes. However, there are usually vegetable side dishes e.g. hunan cauliflower, stir-fried broccoli garlic, cucumber salad, etc.
You'll also need to do eggs Chinese style (very easy with tomatoes).
Absolutely no MSG!
Almost forgot: no self-respecting Chinese kitchen is complete without laoganma (preserved black bean in chili oil).
In terms of noodles, for simple broths, Rolin Taiwanese Knife Shave Noodles. Good lord! Absolutely delicious with simple stock, Chinese style eggs and tomato (laoganma on the side).
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff