Chinese food is a great way to expand your personal recipe book, particularly if you love to use simple, fresh ingredients with short cooking time. These top ten dishes are popular all over the world, and are must-haves in your collection of Chinese food recipes.
Fried Rice - A must have dish 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 ingredients and rice to make it. Of course, you can use fresh ingredients but it’s recommended to use rice that has been kept in the fridge overnight for best results. Ingredients usually used in fried rice are eggs, scallions, diced meat of either beef, chicken or pork, ham, prawns and vegetables such as celery, peas, carrots, bean sprouts and corn. There are many varieties of fried rice but the more well-known ones are the Yongchow and Fukien fried rice.
Kung Pao Chicken - Kung Pao chicken or Kung Po chicken is a Chinese dish from Szechuan cooking and is considered to be a delicacy. The recipe for this tasty dish commonly calls for diced chicken that is pre-seasoned and briefly stir-fried with unsalted roasted peanuts, red bell peppers, sherry or rice wine, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chili peppers. Alternatively, you can use prawn, scallops, beef or pork in place of the chicken.
Moo Shu Pork - This is a dish of northern Chinese origin and a favorite of many. Ingredients in a Moo Shi pork recipe usually include green cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, scrambled eggs, carrots, bean sprouts, day lily buds and scallions. Celery, onions, bell peppers, snow pea pods, bok choy and Shiitake mushrooms 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 Moo Shi 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.
Sesame Chicken - Sesame chicken or sesame seed chicken is a Chinese dish originated from Hunan and is very similar to General Tso's chicken. Its recipe involves chicken pieces that are boned and battered, and then deep fried. It is then dressed with sauce made from cornstarch, sugar, chicken broth, and Chinese vinegar or wine. Finally, sprinkle toasted sesame seed generously on the dish and serve hot with white rice.
Egg Rolls - Egg rolls are one of the most popular Chinese foods, and for good reason. This tasty roll is made by wrapping a combination of chopped cabbage and meats and sometimes noodles in a sheet of dough. It is then dipped in egg and deep fried to perfection. Egg rolls have more filling and hence bigger in size than its cousin spring roll. Its skin is crunchier and thicker.
Fortune Cookies - Chinese cooking would simply not be complete without the addition of a recipe for fortune cookies. The ingrediesnts you need to make these treats are some sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract, making them a simple way to add some fun to your home cooked Chinese food.
Orange Chicken - This savory Chinese dish is made of chicken chopped into bite size pieces and battered, and then fried with thick spicy and sweet chili sauce flavored with orange. The traditionally Chinese recipe for tangering chicken as it’s sometimes called, is to deep fry the chicken first and then stir fry it in a lightly sweet soy-based sauce flavored with dried orange peels. Vegetables like baby carrots and bok choy are used as the garnishing. However, chefs in Western restaurants do not use dried orange peel but rather orange juice or fresh orange peel and a substantial amount of sugar to make the sauce. Chili peppers and steamed broccoli are used as garnishing instead.
Sweet and Sour Pork - This savory-sweet famous Chinese dish is of Cantonese origin. It is a good dish to prepare when you are planning on having guests, who will be wildly impressed with your cooking skill. As with other Chinese food recipes, the key to making a great Sweet and Sour Pork dish is in the sauce made of sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and soy sauce. Its ingredients include pork, pineapple, bell pepper and onion chopped into bite size pieces.
Mapo Dofu - Mapo doufu or Mapo tofu is a well-known Chinese dish from the Szechuan province. Ingredients used for this recipe include beancurd or tofu, and minced pork or beef cooked in a bright red spicy sauce based on chili.
Egg Fu Yong - Egg foo young, also spelled egg furong, egg fu yung, egg fooyung, or egg foo yong is an hearty American Chinese dish. It’s basically an omelet prepared with eggs beaten with minced meat or vegetables. Roast pork, ham, Chinese sausage, shrimp, chicken, beef or lobster may be used as meat while bean sprouts, celery and water chestnuts for vegetables.
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