Tips for Chinese Cooking Made Easy

Have you ever wanted to make Chinese food at home, but were too intimidated by the thought of actually doing it? After all, there can be a lot of exotic ingredients that you might think are hard to find, and the techniques might be different, but you need not worry. By learning a few tips and tricks, Chinese cooking made easy is possible in your own home.

Cooking Chinese food in your own kitchen will not only save you time and money, but will also taste better because you can control the quality of ingredients that you put into your food. In order to save money, a lot of Chinese restaurants will use the cheapest cuts of meat possible and low quality vegetables. But, a lot of people are intimidated by the thought of cooking at home because of all the strange ingredients. Contrary to your perception, finding Asian ingredients for your recipes is easier than you would imagine. In recent years, most major supermarkets have a section devoted to ethnic food. There you will find almost every ingredient that you need to make easy Chinese recipes at home like soy sauce, oyster sauce, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and noodles. You can also make use of your local produce and meat to serve as the foundation to all of your meals.

While at the Asian food section of your local market, you can also find pre-made sauces that can be used to speed up your cooking and to make your life easier. For instance, instead of making your own stir fry sauce, you can buy it already made and seasoned. All that you have to do is stir fry your vegetables or meat and throw in a little of the sauce to finish your dish.

You should also consider buying flavored oils to make your Asian cooking easier. Most Chinese recipes call for ginger and garlic to be added to the oil as aromatic agents. However, you can avoid having to mince garlic and ginger by purchasing oils that are already infused with their essences, saving you the time of having to chop ginger and garlic as well as the money that you would need to spend purchasing them. These stir fry oils keep for a very long time and are great if you only cook Asian foods every now and then and don't want to have to buy fresh ginger or garlic.

Most dishes can be cooked very quickly in a matter of a few minutes. The secret to this high speed method is all in the preparation. The best way to make sure that your cooking will go smoothly and easily is to get all of your prep work done. This starts when you bring your Chinese ingredients back from the grocery store. Wash all of your produce when you bring them back from the store. This way, when you're ready to cook, all you have to do is reach into your refrigerator and grab your ingredients without having to spend the extra time washing them. You can also cut some vegetables in advance to help you save time later in the week when you come home after work and want to have a meal on the table very quickly. Just be sure to only cut vegetables like carrots that will not dry out or discolor. Speaking of vegetables, you can also make your life easier by buying frozen vegetables for your stir fries. Frozen vegetables are picked at the height of their ripeness and are immediately frozen, locking in their flavor.

Rice is almost always served along side Chinese dishes in order to act as a filler and to sop up all of the delicious sauces. However, cooking rice from scratch is not easy to do for novice cooks. It is easy to get the wrong proportions of water to rice and easy to burn. To make cooking rice for your meal easier, you can buy microwaveable rice that comes in little cups that reheat in less than a minute.

By taking a few shortcuts and by knowing a few tips, Chinese food made easy is well within your abilities.

Brandon Woo is an expert in Chinese cooking and cuisine with over 20 years of experience in the field. For more tips, instructional videos, and recipes, visit http://www.takeoutsucks.com today.

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