Chengdu Chicken - An Authentic Chinese Chicken Recipe

This Szechuan dish is named after Chengdu, which is the capital of China's Szechuan province. This recipe serves three people as an entree or six if you are serving another dish with it. The hot bean paste gives the dish plenty of flavor. This ingredient is made with crushed chilies and soy beans.

Szechuan cuisine is famed for its bold flavors. Garlic, Szechuan peppercorns, and chilies are widely used in recipes from this recipe and ginger, sesame paste and peanuts also feature in a lot of recipes. As well as Chengdu recipes, there are Chongquig recipes, Zigong ones and Buddhist vegetarian food from the Szechuan region. The word is sometimes spelt Szechwan or Sichuan.

What you will need:

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 bunch spinach
• 1 green onion
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon Szechuan pepper or coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 slices ginger
• 1 tablespoon hot bean paste
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt, as needed

For the marinade:

• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or rice wine
• 3 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry or rice wine
• 2 teaspoons red rice vinegar or red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon white sugar

How to make it:

Wash the chicken and pat it dry on paper towels. Discard any fat. Cut the meat into strips and then cut the strips into one inch cubes. Combine the sherry or rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and black pepper to make the marinade, and then stir in the cornstarch. Marinate the meat in this mixture for twenty minutes in the refrigerator.

Combine the vinegar, soy sauce, rice wine or sherry and sugar to make the sauce. Dissolve the cornstarch in the water in another bowl. Smash and peel the garlic. Chop the ginger and garlic. Wash the green onion and chop it finely. Wash the spinach and drain it.

Heat the wok, and then add a tablespoon of the oil. Add the spinach and some salt. Wilt the spinach for a few seconds, and then remove it from the wok. Clean out the wok and add four tablespoons of oil to it. Add the chicken and fry it, stirring all the time. When it is almost cooked, take it out of the wok, leaving two tablespoons of oil in there. Add the hot bean paste, garlic, and ginger and fry for half a minute. Put the chicken back in the wok and stir the mixture.

Push the meat up the wok sides and add the sauce to the center. Stir the cornstarch mixture again and mix it into the sauce, stirring it fast so it thickens. Stir the chicken into the sauce and add the sesame oil and green onion. Sprinkle the Szechuan pepper or coriander over the top and serve it with the wilted spinach and perhaps some rice or egg noodles.

Chinese Food - Peking Duck Recipe

Peking Duck is one of the most famous Chinese foods originating from the ancient royal courts. For centuries, the best Chinese chefs trained extensively in order to make sure that they could present this delicacy properly to the Emperor. In fact, their very lives depended on it. Today, no chef will lose his life for messing up his Peking Duck recipe but his self-esteem will be sorely dented. However, with attention to detail, a modern day Peking Duck can be a feast fit for royalty. Here's just one of the many up to date Peking Duck recipes:

Ingredients

1 3.5 - 4 lb duck (fresh or frozen)
2 pints water
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
5 fl oz rice wine (you can use dry sherry)
1 lemon

To serve:

8 - 12 Chinese Pancakes
4 - 6 tbsp hoisin sauce
16 - 24 spring onions (cut into thin slivers lengthwise or into brushes)

In China, ducks are specially raised on a diet of soybeans, maize, sorghum and barley for just six weeks, when they are ready for cooking.

Normally, the preparation of Peking Duck is rather time consuming and complex. The duck must be cleaned and plucked thoroughly, then air should be piped in to separate the skin from the flesh which let the skin roast to a lovely crispness. While the duck dries a sugar solution is brushed over the duck and it is then roasted in a wood fired oven. However, with our modern life styles being what they are, this Peking Duck recipe is rather less complicated.

Rinse and dry the duck thoroughly, blotting with kitchen paper.

Mix the water, dark soy sauce, honey and rice wine together and combine with the lemon cut into thick slices and bring to the boil then simmer for about 20 minutes. Ladle the mixture over the duck several times, ensuring that the skin is thoroughly coated. Hang the duck up to dry somewhere cool and well ventilated with a roasting tin beneath it to catch any drips. When the duck is properly dry the skin will feel like paper.

Roast the duck on a rack over a roasting tin in which you have water to a depth of about two inches (this stops the

fat splashing), in a pre-heated oven 475ºF, 240ºC, Gas 9 for 15 minutes. Turn the oven temperature down to 350ºF, 180ºC, Gas 4 and continue cooking for 1 hour, 10 minutes.

Let the duck rest for about fifteen minutes before serving. You can carve the meat and skin into pieces using a knife or cleaver or you can shred it with a spoon and fork.

Serve the duck with warmed Chinese pancakes, spring onions and hoisin sauce.

Each diner takes a pancake, spreads on a little hoisin sauce then tops that with some meat and crispy skin followed by a spring onion brush or some strips of spring onion. The pancake and contents are then rolled up into a tube and eaten either with one's fingers or with chopsticks.

Even this simple version of the classic Peking Duck makes a very special dinner party dish, fit for an Emperor.

CHINESE FOOD

Need Easily Make Fast Chinese Food??

These days many of us are out of our home for over ten hours in a day, and there is little time to prepare a good and rather healthy meal. I’m going to review some tips that will save you time in preparation your Chinese meals. Here are some great quick ways to cook your Chinese food fast:

1. Use common ingredients as substitute for hard-to-find ingredients. Some Asian foods may not be available in your local grocery store. You may substitute other foods when cooking your meals. If you need Asparagus in your dish, you can substitute broccoli, string beans, and other green vegetables. Another example would be substitution for black mushrooms. You can use fresh American mushrooms.

2. Buy food ingredients in larger quantity. A) Buy a whole chicken. Remove the bones or debone the chicken and use the bones for soup stock. Use the chicken meat for your Chinese dishes to be stir fried with vegetables for your refrigerator. B) Another technique is to buy a fresh fish like walleye or tilapia. Remove the bones from the fish known as filleting the fish. Save the bones for soup stock and use the fillet part of the fish for stir frying. As you can see there are numerous ways, use food when buying in bulk.

3. Make several meals from bulk purchase. For the chicken that is not used in your large quantity purchase, keep it in an aluminum foil, and place in the freezer for your next meal. For a fast and easily thawing technique, place the aluminum foil with fish between two pieces of meat.

4. Use leftover food for your meals. If you could a Chinese vegetable dish for the previous night, you can easily as some noodles or rice to make it meal one day or two later. Or, you may a few pieces of steak with some spices to give your new meal a bit more flavor. I would advise using food as meal if it’s been there for several weeks since you may get ill from eating it.

5. Make some quick bites if you’re really pressed for time. Buy some frozen steam buns from the store. It comes in a variety of flavors from red bean paste, black bean paste, and chicken or meat filling. Steam a few extra buns for breakfast and leave a few cooked one in the refrigerator. Microwave the steam buns for an afternoon or evening snack.

6. Save energy and fuel by using your equipment efficiently. When you’re steaming those buns, you can use the other layers of the steamer to steam other food items too. Most good steamers have two or three levels to steam food. Buy a three level steamer if plan buy one. You can steam a variety of food for your meals like meats, vegetables, and even cooked rice.

7. Prepare sauces in advance. Put your favorite sauces together in a jar, and store them for later use. We have a 12 oz. jar of black bean sauce, but put it away in the refrigerator to store away for up to 3 weeks. When we need that right flavor in our meals, we take a few teaspoons and put in right into our wok. We're ready with our meals within minutes.

Indian Food

The right way to Enjoy The Flavour
Asian food tastes better when it is eaten using chopsticks. Similarly, the flavors of Indian food are better experienced when it is eaten using your fingers. Most often flat hard breads or rice is served with different spicy curries and other side dishes. While a spoon and fork can be used to eat the rice, the only way to eat the flat bread is to tear it with your fingers and use the pieces to scoop up the flavorful curries. However, purists say both rice and flat bread tastes better when you use your fingers.

As far as Indian food is concerned it is more important how much you eat than how you eat it. Westerns are more accustomed to meals with meat or fish as the main dish. However, rice or flat bread is the main dish in an Indian meal and the meat or fish curries and other accompaniments are to be consumed in much smaller quantities. The spicier the dish, the smaller the amount to be eaten and rice or flat bread serves to neutralize their strong flavors. Another indication of how much to eat is the size of the serving spoon provided for a spicy dish. Some very spicy dishes are provided with coffee spoons. However, it is always better to warn an unsuspecting guest about how hot or spicy a particular dish is to avoid discomfort.

Pappadams or crisp lentil wafers are always to be served in separate plates to preserve their crispiness.

The right way to serve a meal is to first serve the rice in the middle of the plate and then serve the curries and other accompaniments around it in relatively smaller amounts. Contrary to general assumption that all the accompaniments have to be mixed together with the rice, each side dish has to be savored separately with a piece of flat bread or a spoonful of rice.

Cool sparkling water is probably the most complimentary drink for a spicy Indian meal. If you must have alcohol then a light ale drink like cold beer would be good. If you prefer wine then go for a light wine punch. Fine wine, particularly dry wines are not very good with Indian food.

The best drink to accompany any spicy and delicious indian food is mango juice or you can just sip rose flavored syrup with crushed ice.

5 Myths About Asian Food

Myth 1- Asian food is fast food
Fact 1- I have been to America and being an Asian chef myself, I understand why Asian food like Chinese takeaway is akin to takeaway McDonald burgers. In fact, most Chinese dishes can actually be cooked or prepared in a very fast manner like Cantonese fried rice, but it is the ingredients preparation itself that takes time. However there is also a lot of Asian dishes that require extensive preparation.

Myth 2- Asian food is difficult to prepare
Fact 2- Asian foods are gastronomical delights that are mostly prepared in some exceptionally heavy cooking like stir frying, steaming and many more. It is not difficult to find your desired ingredients when cooking up some Asian dishes for your family. There are so many Asian groceries around America that sell some of the common herbs and spices used in Asian dishes.

Myth 3- Asian food is just about Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese food
Fact 3- Asia is a very big region, covering from Far East like Japan to the west Asia like India. Because of the large region Asia actually covers, there are huge culinary world out there in Asian region alone. Asian foods from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, or even Philippines are so criminally underrated that I hope the tourism boards from these countries should spend more effort in promoting their country dishes. However, Thai recipes seems to cover a larger demographic around the world with their sour and spicy dishes like Tomyam or mango kerabu.

Myth 4- Indian food is curry food
Fact 4- That is one of the most common perceptions that whatever dishes that are curry would have to link to something India. The Indian culinary world does not only cover spicy dish but also some of the greatest vegetarian dish in the world. Indian cuisine also famed for their naan (Indian bread), tandoori chicken (chicken meat skewered in a long metal stick and cooked in a hot pot), sweet candies called ladoo, their famed milk tea called chai and many more.

Myth 5- Chinese food is typically sweet in taste
Fact 5- For some reasons, most of the Chinese foods that I have tasted in America are sweet in taste. That is how the Chinese foods are being perceived, prepared to somehow suit the taste buds for most people. However, if one ventures outside America, to places like Guangzhou or somewhere in Guangdong province of China, area where one could discover the real culinary world of China, you will be able to savor an entirely different taste of Chinese cuisine that actually covers a huge variety of tastes.

Conclusion
Of course there are more untrue perception about Asian foods. Nothing really could beat any Asian cuisines that are originally found in the Asian region itself.

Top 5 Malaysian Breakfasts

Breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day. Breakfast is run, the combination of the two words that can quickly break and generally breaking the fast after the last meal of the day before a meal or boost for the new day!

1 - Nasi Lemak

Jasmine rice with coconut milk and pandan leaves to cook! Often the meaning of sambal, anchovies and peanuts! In addition, hard-boiled egg and cucumber also for decoration.

2 - Roti Canai

Pancake or crepe in Malaysia in almost every restaurant Mamak! Although he served for breakfast, while breakfast can be consumed, lunch or dinner for yourself! Whether Dhall curry or simply white sugar, flavoring, it helps!

3 - Toast

A kind of warm bread that is stronger and can reach more toppings! Normally, jam or peanut butter or Kaya or even better in the elections! Some would even exceeded scrambled eggs!

4 - Half-boiled egg

Commonly referred to as the egg seven minutes to the West! It can be homemade or simply for all coffee-practice! So do you add more flavor, a little white pepper or soy sauce is.

5 - Noodles

A variety of pasta are served in soup, dried or flat! The most famous are fried noodles, Maggi Noodles (Mee Goreng Maggi in Malay), fried or beehoon teow meet the demand for Fried, simply served with an egg and some sweet chili sauce or sambal or even.

Looking at the list, it can look like a pretty heavy meal for breakfast. But that is what favors the Malays. Instead, why not start a hearty meal of the day?