- Serves:
- 2
- Preparation Time:
- 35 minutes
- Cooking Time:
- 10 minutes
- Step 1:
-
You will need
- 30 g glass noodles
- 2 cloves of garlic,chopped
- 100 g prawn meat, chopped
- 150 g pork meat, minced
- 1 carrot, shredded
- 2 tbsp coriander, chopped
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 ltr vegetable oil
- 25 spring roll wraps
- 1 damp tea towel
- 2 bowls
- 1 wok
- 1 slotted spoon
- 1 tray
- 1 paper towel
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 spoon
- 1 saucepan
- Step 2:
-
Prepare the noodles
- Break the noodles into a bowl and pour over enough hot water to cover. Allow them to soften for a few minutes. And when soft enough remove and drain.
- Step 3:
-
Soak the wraps if needed
- Place the rice wraps into a large bowl and cover with cold water, pushing them down into the water. And leave them to soften for a few minutes.
-
TIP!
- A useful tip! There are many types of spring rolls for example wheat flour and rice flour. We are using rice flour for our spring rolls and they will need pre soaking. Wheat flour gives a crispier result and doesn't need pre-soaking.
- Step 4:
-
Cook the filling mix
- Place the wok on a high heat and allow it to warm through. Spoon in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, then add the pork meat. Stir it in well with your wooden spoon helping to break the meat up
- Next, add the prawns, garlic and carrots, then combine well.
- Now add the noodles and stir in. Add the fish sauce, sweet chilli sauce and coriander and then give it all a good mix. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down.
- Step 5:
-
Dry the wraps
- Carefully remove a sheet of rice paper wrap from the bowl of water… and place it on the tea towel. Now turn both the sheets over and let them dry the other side. Repeat until all the wraps are dry.
- Step 6:
-
Mix the corn flour
- Add 2 tablespoons of water into the bowl of corn flour and mix it well together.
- Step 7:
-
Make the spring rolls
- Spoon 1 tablespoon of the meat mix onto a sheet of rice wrap. Roll it up, then fold both sides, continue to roll it up into an oblong parcel, dabbing some of the corn flour mix at the ends to help it stick down. Continue to roll and fold the ends over.
- Take another sheet, place onto the tea towel, spoon on the meat mix, roll it up and fold the sides. Continue to roll up, dabbing some corn flour on the edges and fold the edges to close it.
- Continue with the same process on all of the rice wraps until you have used all the rice sheets.
- Step 8:
-
Fry the spring rolls
- Using your slotted spoon, individually place half of the rolls into a pan of very hot oil. Fry for roughly three minutes, moving them slightly with the slotted spoon so they don't stick together.
- Then remove them with your slotted spoon and place on a tray with some kitchen towel to drain.
- Add the second batch into the oil and fry until nice and crispy. Once cooked remove from the pan and place on the tray to drain again.
- Step 9:
-
Serve
- Serve with some nice spicy dipping sauce.
How To Make Spring Rolls
How To Make Stir-Fried Vegetables
- Serves:
- 4
- Preparation Time:
- 30 minutes
- Cooking Time:
- 5 minutes
- Step 1:
-
You will need …
- 1 small red pepper, sliced
- 1 small green pepper sliced
- 1 small yellow pepper sliced
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 3 carrots, cut into matchsticks
- 100 g small florets of broccoli
- 100 g celery, sliced
- 100 g cabbage, shredded
- 200 g green beans, diagonally sliced
- 2 tbsp chopped ginger
- 5 tbsp vegetable oil
- salt and pepper
- 3 garlic cloves, sliced
- tongs
- 1 large frying pan or wok
- Step 2:
-
Heat pan and oil
- Place the frying pan or wok on a very high heat. When very hot add the oil and heat it up.
- Step 3:
-
Fry the ingredients
- When the oil is almost smoking, add the onions and carrots. Stir well and allow them to sweat for a minute. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute. Next add the green beans, broccoli, celery, green pepper, red pepper and yellow pepper. Cook for two minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally add the cabbage, season with salt and pepper and give it a final stir. Leave to cook for two minutes more before removing from the heat.
- Step 4:
-
Serve
- Serve immediately whilst hot as an attractive side dish or a vegetarian main course.
How To Make Peking Duck
- Serves:
- 1
- Preparation Time:
- 12 hours
- Cooking Time:
- 3 hours
- Step 1:
-
You will need….
- 12 shop bought pancakes
- 2 ½ kg duck
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp dry sherry
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- 3 tbsp corn starch
- 6 cups (1500ml) water
- 10 scallions
- 1 bowl
- 1 spoon
- 1 plate
- 1 kitchen roll
- 1 wok or frying pan
- 1 pastry brush
- some tongs
- 1 teaspoon
- some cling film
- Step 2:
-
Pat Dry
- Cut the wings off at the first joint and wash the duck thoroughly. Pat the duck dry with paper towels, making sure there are no feathers or quills attached to the skin.
- Step 3:
-
Peking Sauce
- Add 6 cups (1 1/2 L) water to a large wok or pot over high heat. Bring the water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add 2 tbsp honey to the water and stir until it dissolves. Then add 2 tbsp dry sherry and 1 tbsp white vinegar. Bring the mixture back up to a rolling boil.
Create a slurry by adding 1/3 cup (75 ml) of water to 3 tablespoons corn starch. Stir until the cornstarch dissolves into a white, smooth liquid. Add the slurry to the boiling mixture in the pot, stir and bring it back to a boil. - Step 4:
-
Dip The Duck
- Slide the duck slowly into the boiling water. Use a large spoon or ladle to spoon the sauce over the duck until it's fully coated. The longer the duck is in the mixture, the sweeter and tangier the duck's meat will become.
- Step 5:
-
Drip Dry
- Place the basted duck uncovered on a rack. Let it air dry for at least six hours. This will remove moisture and tighten the skin. This is a critical step for a perfect Peking duck. A fan is not necessary, but the duck should be place in an area that is cool and airy.
- Step 6:
-
Bake
- Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees (180 C/Gas Mark 4). Fill a tray with one to three inches of water and place it on the bottom of the oven. This will catch the duck drippings and keep the meat moist while it bakes.
Place the duck, breast side up, on a greased rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Then, carefully turn the duck breast side down and bake for and additional 45 minutes. Finally, turn the duck, breast up, one more time and roast for another 30 minutes…just long enough for the skin to turn dark brown. - Step 7:
-
Serve
- Peking duck is traditionally served with scallion brushes, hoisin sauce and Chinese pancakes. Place some duck meat and crispy skin in a pancake, drizzle on some hoisin sauce, roll and enjoy!
Lamb and Beef in Chinese cooking
Beef is by far a less common form of meat in Chinese food than pork. Hence when Chinese mention meat, they mean pork. Beef is more common in Szechuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the widespread use of oxen in the region. Stir-fried beef is often cooked until chewy, while steamed beef is sometimes coated with cornstarch to produce a rich gravy.
The main reason that the Chinese do not eat much beef is probably that it is not as versatile a meat as pork from the point of view of Chinese cooking. For example, beef meat balls will never be as tender as pork. While for most of Chinese recipes, pork will make reasonably good dishes with beef, they do not make such easily successful dishes with beef as with pork. However, some recipes are especially good for beef or are better with beef than with pork and are therefore primarily a beef recipe. You can always use your own judgment about interchanging the recipes between beef and pork.
You know of course that pork should be cooked thoroughly, while beef can be eaten rare. This compensates in part for the tougher texture of beef than pork. But then beef when too rare will not taste Chinese.
The Chinese usually use tenderloin or sirloin for beef slices and shreds in stir fry dishes. For stewing, shin and shank meat in whole pieces or in large cubes are usually used. The Chinese do not use other big pieces of meat because it has longer tissues and they stiffen more when stewing and come out less tender.
Meat shreds, cubes etc should be dried well (if not marinated) before they are put in a hot wok. This enables the pore of the meat to seal when they come in contact with heat. By preparing meat this manner, there will be very little loss of moisture and it will stay juicy.
Desserts, Appetizers & Snacks in Chinese cuisine
Some popular Chinese snacks are:
Melon seeds - These are primarily, for Chinese people - in the same way as sunflower seeds are for Russians. There is a certain skill in nibbling the shells and extracting the kernels elegantly. A good accompaniment with Chinese tea.
Dried Olives and plums - These are salty sweet and have a very particular function. Their main purpose is to induce saliva, and in this, they are wonderful! Just pop one of these into you mouth and at one the saliva flows and all discomfort of a dry mouth disappears! You can buy these olives and plums at Chinese and oriental stores.
Lychees - Occasionally lychees can be bought fresh. Usually they are sold in canned form in the West. The fresh lychees have a thin but tough 'shell'. When this is removed, there is a white fruit with a black stone, but the canned ones are already stoned. Canned lychees come in a thin syrup. Their delicious flavor is difficult to describe.
Lamb and Beef in Chinese cooking
Beef is by far a less common form of meat in Chinese food than pork. Hence when Chinese mention meat, they mean pork. Beef is more common in Szechuan cuisine than it is in other Chinese cuisines, perhaps due to the widespread use of oxen in the region. Stir-fried beef is often cooked until chewy, while steamed beef is sometimes coated with cornstarch to produce a rich gravy.
The main reason that the Chinese do not eat much beef is probably that it is not as versatile a meat as pork from the point of view of Chinese cooking. For example, beef meat balls will never be as tender as pork. While for most of Chinese recipes, pork will make reasonably good dishes with beef, they do not make such easily successful dishes with beef as with pork. However, some recipes are especially good for beef or are better with beef than with pork and are therefore primarily a beef recipe. You can always use your own judgment about interchanging the recipes between beef and pork.
You know of course that pork should be cooked thoroughly, while beef can be eaten rare. This compensates in part for the tougher texture of beef than pork. But then beef when too rare will not taste Chinese.
The Chinese usually use tenderloin or sirloin for beef slices and shreds in stir fry dishes. For stewing, shin and shank meat in whole pieces or in large cubes are usually used. The Chinese do not use other big pieces of meat because it has longer tissues and they stiffen more when stewing and come out less tender.
Meat shreds, cubes etc should be dried well (if not marinated) before they are put in a hot wok. This enables the pore of the meat to seal when they come in contact with heat. By preparing meat this manner, there will be very little loss of moisture and it will stay juicy.
Chinese Cooking Methods
The art of Chinese cooking is not, contrary to popular belief, complicated and difficult. Most Chinese dishes do not require a complex processing and equipment in the kitchen as does one of China's most famous dishes, Peking duck. Simplicity is the key to Chinese cuisine as evidently shown in their various cooking methods. When you have the ingredients, seasonings and marinades ready, you can use one of the following methods to cook in Chinese.
Roasting - Roasting is not family cooking in China, since few Chinese kitchens have facilities for roasting. Only restaurants go much into roasts and Cantonese restaurants excel especially in these. In roasting, raw ingredients are marinated in seasonings before being roasted in an oven or barbecued over direct heat from charcoal fire, with the roast turning slowly round and round. Marinades is added inside and out from time to time so that the skin remains smooth and shiny, instead of rough and flaky, and the meat remains juicy instead of powdery. The Peking duck is one of China's most famous dishes cooked this way. Families can go to food shops to buy roast meat or poultry and eat it cold. But for the crisp juicy hot roast duck, one has to go to a restaurant.
Boiling - Strictly speaking, this means cooking food in boiling water (A liquid is boiling when the surface is continually agitated by large bubbles). Violent boiling should be avoided. It wastes fuel; it does not cook the food any faster, it tends to make the food break up and so spoils the appearance; the liquid is evaporated too quickly with the consequent danger of the food burning. There are one or two exceptions to this rule; for example, when one wants to drive off water quickly from syrup or a sauce to make it thicker, then violent boiling with the lid off hastens the process.
| Turn the fire to medium if you want but to make sure that it is at least hot in all parts, especially in a large tall boiling or steaming pot, the fire must be big enough for you to see the steam come out. |
Shallow frying - shallow frying uses a small amount of oil in a frying pan or wok at a temperature lower than stir-frying. Ingredients are usually cut into slices or flat pieces, and are used as they are, slightly coated with batter or rubbed with seasonings. Fish is ideal for this cooking method. The presentation side of the food should be fried first as this side will have the better appearance because the oil is clean, then turned so that both sides are cooked and browned. Sauces, if called for, are then added. Food cooked this way is tender inside with some crispness outside. This method is quite similar to sautéing in the West.
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