Chinese Food Recipes - Cooking Techniques

While Chinese food recipes may be specific to a certain region of China, cooking techniques often cross provincial boundaries. In a country the size of China, that's a lot of travelling.

Stir Frying

Stir frying is one of the favourite cooking methods. The actual cooking is very quick indeed so all the ingredients need to be prepared in advance. Many Chinese food recipes involve meat and vegetables being sliced into evenly sized pieces, so that they will cook at the same speed. Things like carrots, spring onions and courgettes look nicer if they're cut on an angle, giving an interesting shape.

All the spices and sauce ingredients need to be measured out and mixed before cooking starts.

The wok should be heated until it is almost smoking before the oil is added. The ingredients which take the longest to cook should be added first then the others progressively, stirring and tossing continuously, followed by the sauce which should be simmered for a minute before serving.

Stewing

Stewing is a bit more leisurely than stir frying. Chicken or meat can be used, together with vegetables, water, stock, beer or wine (or a mixture any of them) and spices depending on the individual recipe. For the method known as "red cooking", a lot of soy sauce is added which permeates all the ingredients. The whole lot is then simmered gently until cooked. The traditional utensils would be a clay pot over a charcoal fire but a saucepan or wok on a gas or electric cooker will produce much the same result. The sauce can then be thickened with a little corn flour mixed with some of the stewing liquid.

Alternatively, the meat and vegetables can be extracted to form the main course to be followed by the broth served over rice as a filler.

Roasting

Just as with our own "roast dinners" in the West, the Chinese marinade and roast large pieces of meat either in an oven or over a barbeque. These Chinese food recipes are often produced in restaurants and the marinade is key to the flavour, often containing five spice powder, star anise, chillies, garlic and ginger or a selection of these.

Whichever cooking method is used, preparation and presentation are the keys to a successful dish, as in Chinese cookery, aroma and visual pleasure are just as important as taste.

Liz Canham is a writer and a lover of Asian food. To learn more about Chinese food click here and visit Asian Food and Cookery.