All about the ingredients, equipment and techniques you need to start cooking Chinese food at home.
Introduction
When I first ate Chinese food in the UK in the 1970s, it was really
quite unappealing. Everything came in a gloopy sauce and seemed to
taste the same, due to the overuse of monosodium glutamate, supposedly
a flavour enhancer but in reality, nothing of the kind. Then in the
1980s a new breed of Chinese restaurant arrived (at least it took that
long to reach the provinces) which provided lighter, tastier Chinese
cooking demonstrating regional differences. There was one drawback,
however, which was that this new type of restaurant was much more
expensive than the original cheap ‘n tasteless ones. Consequently, I
thought how nice it would be to cook Chinese food at home but I had no
idea where to start until BBC TV came to my rescue in the shape of Ken
Hom, the USA-born chef of Cantonese parents.
Ken presented Chinese cuisine in such an easily-understandable way,
demonstrating techniques and suggesting alternative ingredients should
the originals not be available in your local supermarket. The book
which accompanied the series, Ken Hom’s Chinese Cookery became my bible
and I still have my copy, pages stained with oil drips and smears of
sauce.
To help you on your way to cooking Chinese food at home, I’m going to
briefly describe the basic equipment, ingredients and techniques which
you need to know so that you can produce some simple and tasty dishes.
I hope you enjoy the article and that it inspires you to get cooking!
Equipment
Although there are many implements and pieces of equipment you can buy,
to start on the road to cooking your own Chinese food, you really only
need a good knife or two and a wok. Woks come in all shapes and sizes,
they can be non-stick, flat-bottomed, they can even be electric these
days but I still prefer my old carbon steel wok with it’s rounded
bottom and one wooden handle. This is a Pau wok. These are readily
available in Chinese supermarkets and are much less expensive than
other varieties. There is one important task though, before you will be
ready to cook with such a wok and that is to season it. You will need
to scrub it with a cream cleaner to remove any residues of machine oil
and dry it carefully. Put the wok on the hob over a low heat. Rub the
inside of the wok with two tablespoons of cooking oil using kitchen
towel. Let the wok heat slowly for 10 to 15 minutes then wipe the
inside with more kitchen towel. The paper will come away black. Carry
on coating, heating and cleaning off until the kitchen towel comes away
clean. Your wok is now ready to use. After use, wash only in water
without detergent and dry thoroughly over a low heat. You may also
apply a little oil if you wish. This should prevent the wok from
rusting but if it does develop rust, just scrub and season again.
As well as the wok, you will need a wok stand, particularly if you have
an electric hob. This keeps the wok stable if you are using it for
braising or deep frying.
You will also need something to stir with – any spatula, slice or
slotted spoon will do – metal for a metal wok and plastic or wooden for
a non-stick wok.
Ingredients
Before you rush out and buy up the whole Chinese section at the
supermarket, bear in mind that some ingredients don’t keep well if left
unused. Just select something simple from your chosen cookery book and
buy the things that you need for that then you can expand your
selection as you progress through different dishes.
Some common store-cupboard ingredients that you will almost certainly
need are dark and light soy sauce, some sort of cooking oil and sesame
oil, cornflour and rice wine or sherry. For more information, see my
article Chinese Cooking - Ingredients and Equipment.
Techniques
Stir-Frying
The most well known Chinese cooking technique is stir-frying. This is
where your wok comes into its own as it’s shape and size (at least 14
inches diameter with deep sides) is ideal for quick cooking. The secret
to successful stir-frying is to have all your ingredients ready in
advance.
Meat should be cut according to the recipe but normally in thin strips.
Vegetables likewise but in any event should be of similar shapes and
sizes to ensure even cooking. Long thin vegetables such as spring
onions, carrots or asparagus are often cut on the diagonal so that more
surface area is exposed for quicker cooking. Measure out sauce
ingredients - check the recipe - if they are all added to the dish at
the same time, you can put them all in one small bowl. If cornflour is
included, don’t forget to give it a good stir before adding to the
other food.
Once you have everything prepared, heat your wok until it is very hot
then add oil and using your chosen stirring implement ensure that the
oil is evenly distributed over the surface of the wok. Before you add
your ingredients. the wok should be so hot that it is almost smoking -
this will prevent the food from being greasy. The exception to this is
if you are flavouring your oil with garlic, chilli, spring onions,
ginger or salt - these will burn if the oil is too hot.
Now add your other ingredients in the order stated in the recipe and
toss them over the surface of the wok ensuring that nothing rests in
one place for too long and moving the food from the centre of the wok
to the sides. I suggest that you wear an apron or other protective
clothing for this operation as the food often spits due to the high
temperature it is cooked at.
Deep Frying
You can use your wok for deep frying but be very careful that it is
safely balanced on its stand. Under no circumstances leave it
unattended. Deep frying in a wok uses less oil than a deep fryer or
saucepan but you may find these safer and easier to use.
When deep frying, make sure that the oil is hot enough before adding
ingredients or the food will end up very greasy. Test it by dropping in
a small piece of prepared food or a cube of bread. If the oil bubbles
up around what you dropped in then it’s hot enough.
Make sure that food to be deep fried is dried thoroughly on kitchen
paper or drained of its marinade before cooking otherwise it will spit.
Shallow Frying
This is the same as the Western technique. Fry food on one side, then
the other and drain off any excess oil before adding sauce ingredients.
A normal frying pan is fine for this.
Steaming
Steaming is widely used in Chinese cookery. You can use a bamboo
steamer in a wok, a heat-proof plate placed on a rack in a wok or other
large pan or you can use a normal European steamer.
If using a bamboo steamer or plate in a wok, bring about 2 inches of
water to a simmer. Put your rack into the wok (if the bamboo steamer is
big enough and will sit on the sides of the wok without being in the
water, you don’t need a rack) and balance your plate or steamer of food
on it. Put the lid on your steamer or wok and check occasionally to see
if the water needs topping up (use water which is already hot).
Whichever method you use, make sure that the food is above the water level and isn’t getting wet.
Braising
As with Western cooking, braising is used for tougher cuts of meat and
involves gentle cooking of meat and/or vegetables in flavoured stock.
Red-braising is the technique where food is braised in a dark liquid
such as soy sauce which gives the food a red/brown colour. This type of
braising sauce can be frozen and re-used.
