Chines recipes

For the most part, you need to prepare the food before hand. You need to have Soy sauce, Chinese five spice, Oyster sauce, tinned black beans, carb soda, cornflour, sesame seed oil and a really good hot wok. I've made some really great meals from recipes I got from the book. Too long to post here, but the meatballs in black bean really took my fancy. Cheap and very tasty.

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You are right, BevG...... chinese cooking is not hard and once you have the basic ingredients, any decent chinese recipe book will get you started. Chinese food is very flexible and recipes for most dishes are not "set in stone". A little bit of experimentation will give you some delicious results. (eating the odd failure is not such a high price to pay).

For example, stir fry some sliced chicken breast in a dash of oil .....add some sliced onion and a clove of garlic (finely chopped).....add vegetables, powdered chicken stock, a little soy/oyster sauce and sesame oil and stir fry till cooked to your preference.

At that stage, you have a BASE for multiple dishes...... add oyster sauce for chicken and oyster sauce......OR add some sate sauce and a little peanut butter as a thickening agent and you have a great sate......OR add some salted black (beans that have been soaked in hot water then drained to remove salt)......chicken in black bean sauce.

If you are adventurous, you can try some fresh chilli finely chopped or cook some noodles and drain......then add to your dish and stir through just before serving etc......... not everyone likes rice.

Whatever you do, it is bound to make an appetising change to the old "meat and two veg".

I have purposely not been too specific with amounts here........I take the view that you can always add some more, but you cant take anything out.......so, try a bit and taste.....just add more till you get the balance that suits your palate.

Must you have a Wok--to cook this right--I have so many kitchen thingys have no room for any more--but not a Wok and as I have an electric stove top can't use the traditional one---can you cook Asian in a fry pan ?

Jane if you have a garage sale and sell all those utensils you have, taking up room and buy an electric wok you will be made and set up for life :) I cook SO much in the wok an electric one (for those with a flat top stove) is an investment :)

We are buying as new second hand car and it is a nightmare to be honest. There never seems the exact of what we want/need.

We made up our mind about a lovely Rover yesterday in A1 condition BUT when we googled we realised every service would cost an arm and a leg and I think even a radiator hose was over $250 :( The exhaust system over $1000 and we always seem to have to pay extras for every service even for our Fairlane so back to the drawing board as we are about to head off looking again.

Advertising our personalised number plates for a couple of thousand so that will make a slight dent if we sell them. :)]

Oops there I go off topic again.

sorry

Phyl.

No Phyl I use all the utensils I have Phyl--mixer/ sandwich press / sandwich toaster/ blender/ elect fry pan scales/ food processor etc-- so no chance of me selling any as I use them often--might have a look at the Wok any way--can you get stainless steel ones?



As far as cars go Phyl--those type of cars you speak of always cost a fortune to replace things on them --even the Hondas are very dear for parts--why not have a look at a Toyota Corolla--very good car and have a very good resale value as well---

Planb, a fairly heavy based frying pan will do the job. I cooked many chinese meals long before I got my first wok, I don't like the non slip surface woks that are around now....they seem to impart a bland flavour to the dish.



I have a wonderful little chinese cook book brought out by New Idea in about 1974, and it is truly authentic. Back then, there were not the bottled sauces we buy now. One time, I cooked an eight course meal for about ten people....each dish made from scrap. The pineapple meatballs were the star of the show. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll post it.

Can't be bothered so much now, and happily use the modern bottled sauces.

It's fun to experiment, so why not try with your frying pan, and see how it goes.

Yes will try the fry pan it is a heavy stainless steel one--a very large one--must look for the Asian cook books

It is fast cooking, Th electric woks don't really seem to heat up so well. Good on the bottom, but not so good on the sides. Your'e right KOKo - the older the recipe book, the more authentic the recipe will be. Bought a new tin of black beans this morning - Chinese style, in brine. Only cost $1.90. Use a little bit, store the rest in salted water in a jar. Use when needed. No chinese style cooking is wasted - even if it doesn't seem quite right, you can salvage it by the judicious addition of something else. Uses very little meat, per serving.

The only reason I mentioned the electric wok is because you Jane have a stove does not lend itself to wok cooking maybe? I do not actually have an electric wok myself just a big heavy steel one I keep oiled but I have a gas cook top.

I am sure you can cook anything in a big frypan also but a wok is deep so with the utensil made for the job (flat edged couple of inches long thing) you can lift the snow peas etc. up from the bottom and stir and lift everything hence stir fry. The utensil picks everything up and puts it down and everything cooks evenly and quickly. I consider the reason my wok cooking (stir fry) is great is because of the deepness and sides of the work and lifting and stirring.

My take on it anyway :)

Better cooks than I can cook anything in anything lol but I am not too bad.....

All the bst

Phyl.

Yes gas it far better--and when you see them cooking with the Woks--it all looks so darn easy--but when someone is good at something they always make it look easy ;) When I cook anything it is always good--(plain cooking mainly) but cooking is not my favorite thing.

If you dont own a wok, I certainly would not run out and buy one......a large pot or electric frypan or a frying pan with high sides should serve just as well.

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