Hello geeks…
Here is the Chinese home cooking thread that I had promised…. Please bear in mind that im not a professional cook… I am only a mother who cooks dinner for my children and family every evening…. Which means my cooking is probably less fancy and maybe less ‘pretty’ than you may have seen or tried at Chinese restaurants..
So first things first… in order for you to cook chinese food.. you must understand the taste and usage of the basic chinese ingredients.. these ingredients are best bought from a Chinese supermarkets cos the real chinese brands has a better taste… or if you really cant get to one then can get from asda or tescos as they usually have an oriental shelf these days..
light soy sauce - salty - to add light salty taste.
dark soy sauce - little less salty than light soy sauce - usually used to add colour,
seseame oil - a strong smell - usually used as a seasoning at the end to add aroma, be careful how you use, little goes a long way
rice wine - to add aroma and taste
cornflour - to lighty coat the meat in marinate and also used to make a sauce in the actual cooking
oyster sauce - have a combination of taste, sweet and salty, can be used with most vegetables, my most used ingredient in my cupboard..!
ginger/garlic/onions/shallots - must go into wok first before everything else.. the idea is.. when ginger and garlic browns.. it releases an aroma which takes away the unpleasent smell of meat which usually follows directly after..
chinese cooking is not as complicated as many people think.. in fact.. basic chinese cooking is one of the easiest ways to cook… there is no actual set way of doing it and everyone will add or take away certain ingredients to accommodate to their own taste..
basically.. you need to balance out the taste of ingredients.. i.e..black bean sauce is salty and full of taste.. so no extra salt or sauce is needed.. instead you need sugar to balance the taste....
a honey dish is sweet.. so no more sugar is needed.. you will need salt to balance the taste..
mushrooms are quite bland.. so you will need something like oyster sauce to give it more flavour as oyster sauce is made up of different tastes...
I have.. of course.. have many different Chinese ingredients in my cupboard which I use when cooking at home... but i will take them out in my recipes cos you either can not buy them in this country... or they are very expensive… I will try and make it as simple as possible and tailored to the western peoples taste…
Rice is viewed as one of the seven essential staples of the Chinese culture and is more than just a food. The typical Chinese greeting is 'Have you had rice yet?' and a family is called to a meal with the words ‘Sikk Faan’ which means 'eat rice'. In a typical Chinese meal at home.. different dishes are served in the middle to share and everyone will have their own bowl of rice… the Chinese usually eat boiled rice with their meals but as I understand that westerners are a bigger fan of fried rice so my first lesson today is cooking fried rice..
chinese Fried Rice
The most important stage when cooking fried rice is the actual rice itself.. the secret behind a good fried rice is using rice which is cold and 1 day old… cook the rice 1 day beforehand and store in the fridge.. rice which is 1 day old is hard and when you stir fry hard rice it will not break and it will not be sticky.. do not attempt to fry freshly cooked rice as it will end up soggy and mushy.. which is not very appetising..
You will need:
Egg
Rice ( 1 day old)
Shallots ( chop up)
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
1) heat wok with oil ( must be hot)
2) add shallots. Cook until brown(ish)
3) crack egg straight into wok
4) immediately add rice before the egg is completely cooked ( the rice will break up the egg automactically if done fast enough). Stir swiftly as you go along to prevent rice from burning.
5) add soy sauce
6) serve.
You can of course add in other ingredients as as meat ( chicken, beef etc) and veg ( peas, spring onion, mange touts, broccoli, carrots etc etc).. what you add in is up to you.. everything goes.. although if you add these ingredients then cooking in this order will make a difference..
1) heat wok with oil
2) add shallots. Cook until brown(ish)
3) add meat. Stir until cooked
4) add veg. Stir until cooked.
5) place on a plate and put aside.
6) add little oil again in wok.
7) crack egg straight into wok.
8) immediately add rice. stir swiftly.
9) add meat and veg you have cooked previously.
10) add soy sauce.
11) serve.
the amount of soy sauce you add in is up to you.. there is usually no need to add salt as well as the soy sauce is already salty..
Like I have mentioned before.. there is no set way of cooking Chinese food.. you decide what you like and what goes in.. when i cook i never have any measurements... i judge the amount depending on how many i cook for and how salty/sweet/rich flavour i want it to taste... but although having said this.. there is a certain order in cooking your food which will make a difference to the end result. I will talk about this a little more another time.
i hope this is easy to understand...
happy cooking geeks....:hug:
Here is the Chinese home cooking thread that I had promised…. Please bear in mind that im not a professional cook… I am only a mother who cooks dinner for my children and family every evening…. Which means my cooking is probably less fancy and maybe less ‘pretty’ than you may have seen or tried at Chinese restaurants..
So first things first… in order for you to cook chinese food.. you must understand the taste and usage of the basic chinese ingredients.. these ingredients are best bought from a Chinese supermarkets cos the real chinese brands has a better taste… or if you really cant get to one then can get from asda or tescos as they usually have an oriental shelf these days..
light soy sauce - salty - to add light salty taste.
dark soy sauce - little less salty than light soy sauce - usually used to add colour,
seseame oil - a strong smell - usually used as a seasoning at the end to add aroma, be careful how you use, little goes a long way
rice wine - to add aroma and taste
cornflour - to lighty coat the meat in marinate and also used to make a sauce in the actual cooking
oyster sauce - have a combination of taste, sweet and salty, can be used with most vegetables, my most used ingredient in my cupboard..!
ginger/garlic/onions/shallots - must go into wok first before everything else.. the idea is.. when ginger and garlic browns.. it releases an aroma which takes away the unpleasent smell of meat which usually follows directly after..
chinese cooking is not as complicated as many people think.. in fact.. basic chinese cooking is one of the easiest ways to cook… there is no actual set way of doing it and everyone will add or take away certain ingredients to accommodate to their own taste..
basically.. you need to balance out the taste of ingredients.. i.e..black bean sauce is salty and full of taste.. so no extra salt or sauce is needed.. instead you need sugar to balance the taste....
a honey dish is sweet.. so no more sugar is needed.. you will need salt to balance the taste..
mushrooms are quite bland.. so you will need something like oyster sauce to give it more flavour as oyster sauce is made up of different tastes...
I have.. of course.. have many different Chinese ingredients in my cupboard which I use when cooking at home... but i will take them out in my recipes cos you either can not buy them in this country... or they are very expensive… I will try and make it as simple as possible and tailored to the western peoples taste…
Rice is viewed as one of the seven essential staples of the Chinese culture and is more than just a food. The typical Chinese greeting is 'Have you had rice yet?' and a family is called to a meal with the words ‘Sikk Faan’ which means 'eat rice'. In a typical Chinese meal at home.. different dishes are served in the middle to share and everyone will have their own bowl of rice… the Chinese usually eat boiled rice with their meals but as I understand that westerners are a bigger fan of fried rice so my first lesson today is cooking fried rice..
chinese Fried Rice
The most important stage when cooking fried rice is the actual rice itself.. the secret behind a good fried rice is using rice which is cold and 1 day old… cook the rice 1 day beforehand and store in the fridge.. rice which is 1 day old is hard and when you stir fry hard rice it will not break and it will not be sticky.. do not attempt to fry freshly cooked rice as it will end up soggy and mushy.. which is not very appetising..
You will need:
Egg
Rice ( 1 day old)
Shallots ( chop up)
Light soy sauce
Dark soy sauce
1) heat wok with oil ( must be hot)
2) add shallots. Cook until brown(ish)
3) crack egg straight into wok
4) immediately add rice before the egg is completely cooked ( the rice will break up the egg automactically if done fast enough). Stir swiftly as you go along to prevent rice from burning.
5) add soy sauce
6) serve.
You can of course add in other ingredients as as meat ( chicken, beef etc) and veg ( peas, spring onion, mange touts, broccoli, carrots etc etc).. what you add in is up to you.. everything goes.. although if you add these ingredients then cooking in this order will make a difference..
1) heat wok with oil
2) add shallots. Cook until brown(ish)
3) add meat. Stir until cooked
4) add veg. Stir until cooked.
5) place on a plate and put aside.
6) add little oil again in wok.
7) crack egg straight into wok.
8) immediately add rice. stir swiftly.
9) add meat and veg you have cooked previously.
10) add soy sauce.
11) serve.
the amount of soy sauce you add in is up to you.. there is usually no need to add salt as well as the soy sauce is already salty..
Like I have mentioned before.. there is no set way of cooking Chinese food.. you decide what you like and what goes in.. when i cook i never have any measurements... i judge the amount depending on how many i cook for and how salty/sweet/rich flavour i want it to taste... but although having said this.. there is a certain order in cooking your food which will make a difference to the end result. I will talk about this a little more another time.
i hope this is easy to understand...
happy cooking geeks....:hug: