Ching’s Chinese Food in Minutes. Ching-He Huang

my grandmother came to England. I had the pleasure of cooking for her during her stay and she didn’t say anything throughout the trip, but, when she returned to Taiwan, she called me and said she thought my food was delicious. I was so happy.

      At a glance—the inspiration behind the dishes

      The recipes in this book are wide-ranging, varied and some of my favourites; many of them are versatile and so you can use your imagination and turn them into your own creations.

      Throughout the book I’ve added short cuts and tips to help you save time and I have also included preparation and cooking times and suggested marinating times. For marinades, sometimes I have the forethought to do this overnight, but most often, in a hurry, I will marinate for just 10-20 minutes, depending on how impatient I am to have my meal. So don’t feel you have to slavishly marinate for 12 hours if you are pushed for time. Also, some people cook more quickly than others and therefore the guidance times in this book are designed to help with planning and not act as a pressure cooker! So please relax, enjoy and remember, as always, practice makes perfect.

      If you are new to Chinese cooking, I would recommend trying some of my quick home-style dishes such as the Shrimp, crabmeat, dofu and spinach soup, which can be turned into a light meal, or my one-wok Chicken, smoky bacon and bamboo shoot stir-fry. My grandmother used to cook dishes such as the Pork with Chinese cabbage and Sichuan stir-fried pork with cucumbers, served with egg-fried rice, and so whenever I cook these I think of her.

      One of my favourite quick home meals has to be Saucy pork and tomato egg stir-fry—the sauce is so delicious you can mop it up with plain jasmine rice; this gets the thumbs up with children too and it’s a great way of getting them to eat some vegetables. The Saucy beef dofu, Spicy chunky lamb, and Garlic chilli pepper beef and mushroom pak choy are my family favourites and if you are a fan of noodles then I highly recommend the Rice wine pepper beef noodles. If I am cooking a range of dishes to share, I like to serve Sweetcorn, egg and spring onion stir-fry or Garlic spinach from the vegetarian and side dishes chapter, which both make delicious simple accompaniments.

      For those of you after something light and healthy, please do check out my Grandfather’s egg, mixed mushroom and celery broth—it may not instantly grab your attention but it is perfect if you are in search of nutrients and something settling on the stomach.

      If like me, you are a chilli fanatic, I have included many dishes that will not disappoint and are certainly not for the fainthearted. It is incredibly hard to highlight just a few of those here because I love them all, but Chongqing beef is mind-blowingly delicious and was inspired by a meal I had at a top-class restaurant, ‘Hutongs’, in Hong Kong. The aromas and flavours are explosive. The Roast beef in ‘four-spiced’ chilli oil is one that I created when I had some roast beef left over after Sunday lunch but didn’t have many fresh ingredients left in the fridge, so I improvised with store cupboard spices and ingredients to make this incredible super quick and tasty dish. It’s an impressive dish to serve to important guests because it looks beautifully elegant on the plate (however, do first check that your guests like spicy food!). The Spicy Sichuan pepper prawn-fried rice is my ultimate favourite quick one-wok meal after work; it tastes really good with its large, juicy, fresh tiger prawns. My advice with all these spicy dishes is to make sure you have plenty of water to hand.

      If you fancy some of your favourite Chinese takeaway dishes, don’t reach for the phone—it’s quicker, easier and healthier to cook those dishes at home and I’ve included lots of recipes for you to try. My reliable and delicious Chicken and black bean stir-fry can be made in only 15 minutes, and to make this dish even quicker get the rice cooking first! You won’t find my Sweet and sour duck on your local takeaway menu, it’s zesty and full of flavour, while my Juicy chilli chicken and cashew nut is fresher, healthier and tastier that any takeaway dish; just serve this with steamed rice for an addictively tasty midweek supper. When I want something lighter, my curled-up-in-front-of-the-telly Crabmeat sweetcorn soup (with a few shavings of nutty black truffle on top) always hits the spot.

      I like to vary my evening meals during the week. In a typical week, I will eat about one vegetarian-themed, two meat and three or four fish or seafood suppers, (because I love fish and seafood). When I was growing up in Southern Taiwan, we lived really close to the port of Kaosiung and I would watch the best fish catches arriving at the local fish markets. In the village where my grandmother lived, old ladies on bicycles would carry small buckets of river fish in water to sell and I can still hear them calling out for customers. The fish and seafood was always fresh and very simply cooked—often steamed, which is one of my favourite ways to cook fish. The fish dish I love the most in this book is the Steamed wine sea bass, but if you like your fish fried I would suggest the Spicy bacon crispy haddock, which is really more-ish and cooks in just 13 minutes. For a more traditional Chinese flavour I recommend the Sweet and smoky ‘hong sao yu’ (red-cooked fish).

      Traditionally, when Chinese entertain they would have something cooking in the oven, steamer and rice-cooker, with a few woks also on the go—because the idea is to have all the dishes shared at the table and therefore served at the same time, which can be extremely stressful for the host! The trick is to prepare some dishes in advance—perhaps a few cold meats like Red-cooked pork or Sichuan chilli roast beef, or ‘liang cai’ (cold dishes) that you can serve first. Marinades can be made in advance, as can dumplings, so all you have to do is cook them in the steamer and not have to worry about them.

      Living and entertaining in the UK means that I have become more accustomed to the Western style of entertaining and so my meals are simpler and mostly with set courses, rather than with all the dishes served at once as in the Chinese style. However, when I have four or fewer guests, I like ‘going to town’ and I will make a variety of dishes but in smaller portions—more in line with dim sum. For larger groups I tend to make buffet-style dishes so that everyone can help themselves. There is a chapter devoted to recipes for entertaining, but there are plenty of dishes in the other chapters too that would work just as well for entertaining and allow you to cook Chinese but in a Western setting—so you could choose to cook a starter, main and dessert. The dishes I have chosen for the entertaining chapter are popular and easy ones for large crowds, where the ingredients can be doubled or quadrupled in quantity. When you do have a little more time, there are dishes such as Sichuan spicy pork and prawn wontons in Sichuan chilli oil, Duck spring rolls, and Pork and water chestnut dumplings, for those who love to make things from scratch. Wontons and dumplings can always be made ahead and frozen until you need them. Dishes such as Yellow bean and honey roast chicken may surprise you. It was inspired by my love of British roast dinners ever since I had my first one (teamed with a large Yorkshire pudding) at school and so I couldn’t resist including it. It’s made with my favourite Chinese spice—Sichuan peppercorns. A special note on the Hainanese chicken rice in this chapter—it may take some time and love but it is delightfully delicious and one of my favourite traditional classic Chinese dishes.

      On the subject of classics, I have included some that I cannot live without, such as Century duck eggs with coriander and mushroom sauce—a word of advice: these are only for true Chinese food connoisseurs and take some getting used to, but I love them, pungent and more-ish! I have to mention also my grandmother’s Chicken rice ‘Bi-ge’, a celebration dish that is usually eaten on the Winter Solstice. I love this dish so much that whenever I stayed with my grandmother, I always asked her to make it for me, it is that good. As is my mother’s Taiwanese ginger and sesame chicken noodle soup, which will sort out a cold in no time!

      Finally, just a quick mention on desserts. The British palate is not quite accustomed to Chinese desserts and I must admit there are a few that do take some getting used to. However, I also know that tastes are changing so for those who are adventurous and after the more traditional Chinese flavours, I have included one of my favourite classic desserts—Tang yuan. It is a sweetened