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

and one that I love when it is served hot after a meal. If traditional Chinese desserts are not your thing, then I have also created some ‘fu-sian’ desserts, such as Lychee and strawberry spring rolls with vanilla ice cream and golden syrup—it can be made in about 18 minutes and is utterly delicious.

      No time and money? Chinese food is the answer

      One of the most important tips I can offer in cooking is to choose the freshest ingredients possible. The secret to making a dish relies seventy percent on the freshness and quality of the ingredients and thirty percent on your skill. With practice and in time skill can be perfected, but the dish is only as good as the ingredients you start off with.

      The best part of making room in your life for cooking Chinese is that it is quick and inexpensive to prepare a delicious healthy meal. The trick to cooking Chinese at home is to make sure you invest in a good range of Chinese condiments for your store cupboard—essentials such as groundnut oil, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, dried chilli flakes, Shaohsing rice wine (or dry sherry), toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, chilli bean sauce, five-spice powder, Sichuan peppercorns and chilli sauce. Once you’ve bought these essentials it’s just a question of buying fresh meat or fish and vegetables and the all-important Chinese flavourings of garlic, ginger and fresh chillies to create some wonderful flavour combinations such as hot-sour, sweet-sour, spicy-sour, savoury-sweet, smoky-sweet and so on. This means that every shopping trip is relatively inexpensive as the condiments last for ages. If you don’t have access to a Chinese supermarket, do try to find the authentic ingredients—there are lots of stores online, which help make ordering easier—it is worth the effort because you will taste the difference in your dishes.

      Cooking on a wok is fast and fun, and the results are fabulous—so, even if you are starting out, you cannot go wrong with cooking a stir-fry in a wok. Be sure to invest in a good wok; it doesn’t need to be expensive and, as long as you look after it, it should last for ages. With my kind of cooking, a good wok and a few utensils are all you need to get going. I’ve included tips on how to buy, look after and use a wok on pages xiii-xvi.

      Of course, there are more intermediate and complex Chinese dishes but, in general, if you are short of time and money, cooking Chinese at home is the answer and it will be tastier, cheaper and much better for you than buying ready-made meals because you will know exactly what you have put into each dish.

      Final advice—make time

      My advice for everyone is to take your time and enjoy the process of cooking and sharing food with your loved ones—each dish you create may not last long on the plate (or palate) but happy memories will be created that will last forever. Don’t be a slave to time, it is there for you to cherish and use, in the present.

      These recipes are what I like to cook at home and I have become quite reliant on some of them to keep me balanced. So I really hope you will enjoy cooking and eating them as much as I have enjoyed developing them. I would like to keep bringing delicious food to your table. Sometimes we forget what makes us happy—I hope that some of the dishes I have created will make you happy. With happy blessings and wishes,

       Buying & caring for your wok

      There is nothing more traditional in Chinese cooking than using the wok. This great invention has been used for centuries to help feed millions of people all over the world.

      Woks come in various sizes and are made from different materials, and so when you come to buy one it can be rather challenging. Traditional cast-iron woks are quite heavy and require seasoning, which is not too difficult. The wok comes coated with a film of oil; wash this off using a sponge and washing up liquid, then dry the wok over a high flame on the stove. Next, add a little oil to the wok (sesame oil is good because it burns quickly) and then use absorbent kitchen paper to rub in the oil over the entire wok, giving it a darkened blackened effect. Once your wok is seasoned, don’t use a metal scourer or iron wool on it, as you will take off the seasoning.

      For those who prefer a lighter wok, I would recommend one made from carbon steel, which you season in the same way as the cast-iron wok. If you are short of time, like me, buy a non-stick wok made from carbon steel—it will require less oil for cooking than a cast-iron wok, so is healthier, too.

      When choosing your wok, make sure it feels comfortable and right for you. I prefer a one-handled wok with a medium handle that is not too thick to hold. In terms of size, choose a medium wok, between 30.5cm/12 inches and 40.5cm/16 inches in diameter, which will hold a medium-sized bamboo steamer comfortably and allow you to cook enough to serve at least four.

      For those who don’t have a gas stove, I would say invest in a new cooker! I find that electric stoves are just not right for wok cooking—you can buy a flat-bottomed wok, but you never really get enough heat to cook the food. However, you could invest in a good electric wok, which I have used before and found not too bad.

      Techniques for cooking in a wok

      Stir-frying

      The classic use for a wok—a touch of oil and lots of stirring ensure that the ingredients keep their crunch and take on a smoky flavour. To help you cook your dish to perfection, however, there are some things to observe.

      1 Preparation

      Do prepare all the ingredients in advance, because once you start cooking, you won’t have time to stop and start chopping. Cut all the meat or fish to the same size—this ensures that the pieces cook in the same time. This principle also applies to vegetables. For leafy vegetables, cut them on the diagonal—this exposes them to more heat in the wok and they will cook more rapidly.

      2 Choosing the right oil

      Most oils with a high heating point can be used, such as sunflower oil, groundnut oil and vegetable oil, but avoid sesame oil as this has a low heating point and burns quickly—use it for seasoning your dishes. Olive oil isn’t ideal because its flavour does not suit all Chinese dishes. It is best to use flavourless oil. My favourite is groundnut—it has a slight nutty aroma that is not strong enough to overpower a dish, but acts as a great base on which to create the layers of flavours.

      3 The correct heat

      To prepare the wok for stir-frying, heat it to a high heat, then add the oil and swirl it around in the wok. When the wok starts to smoke it’s ready to use.

      During the cooking process, keep an eye on the flame and level of heat in the wok both before and after adding the food—the temperature in the wok will fall once the ingredients have been added so you want the heat high enough to sear the food, but not so high that you burn the ingredients.

      4 Adding raw ingredients and timing

      The ingredients should go into the wok in the following order. Add the Chinese essentials such as garlic, ginger and chillies first. Secondly, add the meat or seafood, and then, lastly, the vegetables, with a sprinkling of water to create steam. This order of cooking helps to retain the bite of the vegetables. It is important to dry the ingredients before you add them to the wok or the oil will spit, and if there is too much moisture the ingredients will stew rather than ‘fry’. If you are using sauces or meats marinated in sauces, don’t add the sauce or marinade until the end of the stir-frying process to ensure it doesn’t all evaporate, and to prevent stewing the food.

      Sometimes the meat/protein is cooked and