Top Five Chinese Recipes You Should Know
Chinese food is a delicious way to expand your personal cookbook, especially if you love to use simple, fresh ingredients with short cooking time. These top ten dishes are favorites around the world, and are must-haves in your collection of Chinese cooking recipes.
Fried Rice (炒饭) – A staple in Chinese restaurants, fried rice is the ultimate Chinese food, and can be one of the most flexible in your cookbook because you can use leftover rice and ingredients to make it. Of course, you can use fresh ingredients. Ingredients usually used in fried rice are eggs, spring onions, diced meat of either chicken, pork or beef, ham, shrimps and vegetables such as celery, peas, carrots, bean sprouts and corn. There are many types of fried rice but the more well-known ones are the Yongchow and Fukien fried rice. One of my American friends like to eat fried rice very much. I ask him why, he told me it was easy and convenient to do, meanwhile it was delicious.
Kung Pao Chicken (宫保鸡丁) – Kung Pao chicken or Kung Po chicken is a Chinese dish from Sichuan cooking and is considered to be a delicacy. The recipe for this yummy dish commonly calls for diced chicken that is pre-seasoned and briefly stir-fried with red bell peppers, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, rice wine or sherry, chilli peppers and unsalted roasted peanuts. Alternatively, you can use scallops, prawn, pork or beef in place of the chicken.
Moo Shu Pork (木须肉) – This is a dish of northern Chinese origin and a favorite of many. Ingredients in a Mu Xu pork recipe usually involve green cabbage, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, scallions, scrambled eggs and day lily buds. Shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, snow pea pods, bell peppers, onions, and celery are occasionally used. The vegetables are cut into thin and long strips before cooking, with the exception for bean sprouts and day lily buds. Fried Mu Xu pork is then wrapped in moo shu pancakes that is brushed with hoisin sauce and eaten by hand. Moo shu pancakes are thin wrappers made of flour that is easily available in supermarkets and steamed right before eating.
Mapo Dofu (麻婆豆腐) – Mapo doufu or Mapo tofu is a popular Chinese dish from the Sichuan province. Ingredients used for this recipe include beancurd or tofu, and minced beef or pork cooked in a bright red spicy sauce based on chili.
Chop Suey (炒杂碎) – Chop suey or “za sui” or “shap sui” literally means ‘mixed pieces’ is an American-Chinese dish usually made up of leftover meats and vegetables stir fried quickly in a starch-thickened sauce. It is a great dish when you need to use up the last of yesterday’s pork roast of chicken and can incorporate meats of any kind such as pork, shrimp, beef, fish or chicken and various vegetables from cabbage to celery and bean sprouts. Chop Suey is often eaten with rice.
