Chinese Cooking 101: Part I

Coming to America was such a challenge to my taste buds! Even though I have learned to love western food over the years, but according to my husband, I still have a Chinese stomach.

I LOVE making homemade Chinese food! It just tastes so much fresher and better! Shame on Chinese takeouts.

 I am going to talk about three important flavor boosters and the MOST ESSENTIAL condiments in authentic Chinese cooking : Green onion, Ginger and Garlic. You always always need these three for Chinese cooking!

These three condiments can be easily found at any grocery store. No need to go to an Asian food store!

Green onion ( My green onions are getting dry haha) 

Green onion: It's known for its robust flavor. It also adds a beautiful color to your dishes. I throw it in hot oil to add flavor to the stir fry and I often use it in pancake batter to make green onion pancakes. Green onions is super easy to plant. You can simply stuck the green onion you bought from grocery store in your garden and it will grow like there's no tomorrow! When you need to use it, just cut the top part (leave out the root) and the green onion will continue to grow from where you left it! Never ever have to buy them again!

Ginger

Ginger: Ginger is known to have warming properties. It's a Yang food. It's almost called in all stir fry dishes. I also love its healing properties.  According to Chinese Medicine, ginger warms your stomach/body. It helps to get rid of colds and balance yin and yang in your body. ( I drank a tons of ginger tea after giving birth because giving birth was considered as a very cold thing, the warming properties in ginger can help your body get back to balance and recover quickly. It works wonders!)

Green onion, ginger are often used together to get rid of the raw, meaty taste in meats. I use them for chicken/beef/pork rib broth.

Garlic

Garlic: Garlic has a spicy taste to it if it's eaten raw. So I always like to heat it up and then eat it. Garlic goes so well with almost everything: leafy greens, seafood, meat and veggies. Make sure you put in garlic last when you are doing a stir fry. Garlic tends to burn easily and will give your dish a bitter taste if you are not careful with it.

Happy chopping everyone!

XOXO,

Mia