Easy Chinese starters

syklops

We do a lot of Stir Fries. They are easy to do(easier still with shop bought sauces, though Im experimenting with DIY sauces), however I would love to make a chinese starter to have with it.

Does anyone have any recipes they use? Most chinese starters are the type you get in the freezer section all made up and I'd like to avoid them for now.

I've made chicken and sweetcorn soup in the past which worked well, but I think its too warm and hearty for the 8th of April considering the temperatures outside.

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Moody_mona

What about chicken satay skewers? I'm pretty sure there's a recipe in the Cooking club

RJohnG

syklops wrote: »

We do a lot of Stir Fries. They are easy to do(easier still with shop bought sauces, though Im experimenting with DIY sauces), however I would love to make a chinese starter to have with it.

Does anyone have any recipes they use? Most chinese starters are the type you get in the freezer section all made up and I'd like to avoid them for now.

I've made chicken and sweetcorn soup in the past which worked well, but I think its too warm and hearty for the 8th of April considering the temperatures outside.

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

What would you like? Soups, spring rolls, ribs!

katydid

syklops wrote: »

We do a lot of Stir Fries. They are easy to do(easier still with shop bought sauces, though Im experimenting with DIY sauces), however I would love to make a chinese starter to have with it.

Does anyone have any recipes they use? Most chinese starters are the type you get in the freezer section all made up and I'd like to avoid them for now.

I've made chicken and sweetcorn soup in the past which worked well, but I think its too warm and hearty for the 8th of April considering the temperatures outside.

Anyone any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

How about spicy Chinese style chicken wings. Just marinaded overnight and baked.

RJohnG

katydid wrote: »

How about spicy Chinese style chicken wings. Just marinaded overnight and baked.

No need to marinade overnight.

Boil your chicken wings in water with Cinnamon, cloves, bayleaves and some star anise.

Make a Sichuan sauce (chili bean paste and tomato paste) just a little bit with chicken stock, salt, sugar, MSG in the mix with light soy, Chinese cooking wine then coat the chicken and bake.

Alternatively here's what Chinese restaurants do. Make sweet and sour sauce (see my post) then modify it.
Add sugar and hot chilies to the sauce and cook it in the wok with the scented chicken wings. Up to you how much chilli you add. The more the spicier of course.

*Edit. This Sichuan sauce is the Northern version. The Southern version is different. Has Sichuan peppercorns and vinegar in it among st other ingredients.*

clever user name

I found this guys youtube channel a while ago. He owns a Chinese takeaway and has videos of pretty much any Chinese take away food you can think of, tonnes of them. I've made a good few things from it. The curry sauce is amazing. I've seen similar Chinese curry sauce recipes like his but actually seeing it done really helps.

https://www.youtube.com/user/vongs510/videos

Enjoy

RJohnG

I know Him. Many of His videos are good and a lot are 'easy home versions' but a great insight into a takeaway.

The curry sauce recipe is the basic one that needs a lot of work as it's bland.

clever user name

RJohnG wrote: »

I know Him. Many of His videos are good and a lot are 'easy home versions' but a great insight into a takeaway.

The curry sauce recipe is the basic one that needs a lot of work as it's bland.

The curry was nice, actually tasted like one from a Chinese takeaway. You are right though, it did seem to be missing something. I have no idea what though so I didn't want to mess with it. Do you have a recipe you could share?

RJohnG

clever user name wrote: »

The curry was nice, actually tasted like one from a Chinese takeaway. You are right though, it did seem to be missing something. I have no idea what though so I didn't want to mess with it. Do you have a recipe you could share?

I'll get around to it. In fact, if our curry sauce recipe got out every man and His dog would be copying it around here. What I will do is look at Vongs and suggest to you how to improve it.

Chinese, British, Irish, Western Chinese is a 'work in progress' most of the sauces and pastes don't resemble what they did 20 years ago. The processes making them changes now and then. Recipes are improved constantly.

I think we are on our 25th curry paste/sauce trial and I'm reasonably happy at the results. A lot of Chinese take away's use ready made pastes but you wont get that 'certain taste' that the takeaway's manage to achieve just by adding water to it and hoping for the best.

Khoan's sauce is the 'bare bones' stripped down for youtube consumption version. It's nice though and a big kudos to Him for sharing it. I'd imagine most folks will be happy with the results they get at Home. That's what it's aimed at.

Just a bit to add. Chinese take aways use 'service bowls' for their curry sauce. They make a big portion up and put it in the hot bowl, keeping it warm until they need it. This improves the flavour and taste of the sauce. A rice cooker at home can replicate this:)

RJohnG

Moody_mona wrote: »

What about chicken satay skewers? I'm pretty sure there's a recipe in the Cooking club

Quick tasty satay!

Cut your chicken breast into the required size to put on skewers.

Boil some water that has a Cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves in it. Blanch the chicken for 2 - 3 minutes in the boiling water then let it dry. This will add flavour. Put the chicken on the skewers and deep fry until cooked.

Peanut sauce you need smooth peanut butter, sesame oil, coconut milk, chili powder, hot madras curry powder, water, salt and MSG. I don't measure out quantities but for example use half a jar of peanut butter, 70ml of sesame oil and 100 - 150ml coconut milk, 100 - 150ml water.
The curry and chili amount is up to you, depending on how spicy you like the sauce dip. Try 1Tsp each to begin with. Put it all in a saucepan and add salt and MSG.Heat up until it's all blended. The longer you cook it out the thicker it will become as the water in the mix will reduce.

Your dipping sauce should be thick and spicy you should see the red chili and oil in the finished product.

Serve the chicken on a bed of onion and pineapple.

rubadub

clever user name wrote: »

I found this guys youtube channel a while ago. He owns a Chinese takeaway

I saw him too, he has an ebook too. I made the salt mixture for chilli & salt dishes. I dry fried the salt and did not notice any difference. In another thread RJohnG mentioned you did not need to do it. Maybe it is since I was using a normal electric hob that it did not get hot enough to make a difference to the salt. I did not see any colour change at all.

clever user name wrote: »

The curry was nice, actually tasted like one from a Chinese takeaway.

The goldfish brand of chinese curry sauce is pretty close to many takeaways, better than some of my local ones. When it is boiling away it can appear quite thin, but they thicken up when at eating temperature.

Dolbert

You can get Mayflower curry sauce in Supervalu now, it's just like the restaurant sauce.

clever user name

rubadub wrote: »

I saw him too, he has an ebook too. I made the salt mixture for chilli & salt dishes. I dry fried the salt and did not notice any difference. In another thread RJohnG mentioned you did not need to do it. Maybe it is since I was using a normal electric hob that it did not get hot enough to make a difference to the salt. I did not see any colour change at all.

The goldfish brand of chinese curry sauce is pretty close to many takeaways, better than some of my local ones. When it is boiling away it can appear quite thin, but they thicken up when at eating temperature.

Yeah I've heard good things about the goldfish brand. I'm not in Ireland at the moment, and I don't imagine they will have it here Might get someone to send it over to me. That's why I had to make my own.

Yeah I never bothered dry frying the salt, too much effort. Adding a bit of wine and then getting some flames seems to make it taste better though.

clever user name

RJohnG wrote: »

I'll get around to it. In fact, if our curry sauce recipe got out every man and His dog would be copying it around here. What I will do is look at Vongs and suggest to you how to improve it.

Chinese, British, Irish, Western Chinese is a 'work in progress' most of the sauces and pastes don't resemble what they did 20 years ago. The processes making them changes now and then. Recipes are improved constantly.

I think we are on our 25th curry paste/sauce trial and I'm reasonably happy at the results. A lot of Chinese take away's use ready made pastes but you wont get that 'certain taste' that the takeaway's manage to achieve just by adding water to it and hoping for the best.

Khoan's sauce is the 'bare bones' stripped down for youtube consumption version. It's nice though and a big kudos to Him for sharing it. I'd imagine most folks will be happy with the results they get at Home. That's what it's aimed at.

Just a bit to add. Chinese take aways use 'service bowls' for their curry sauce. They make a big portion up and put it in the hot bowl, keeping it warm until they need it. This improves the flavour and taste of the sauce. A rice cooker at home can replicate this:)

Cool, thanks for that

RJohnG

rubadub wrote: »

I saw him too, he has an ebook too. I made the salt mixture for chilli & salt dishes. I dry fried the salt and did not notice any difference. In another thread RJohnG mentioned you did not need to do it. Maybe it is since I was using a normal electric hob that it did not get hot enough to make a difference to the salt. I did not see any colour change at all.

The goldfish brand of chinese curry sauce is pretty close to many takeaways, better than some of my local ones. When it is boiling away it can appear quite thin, but they thicken up when at eating temperature.

Yes. Some of the 'lazier' Chinese takeaways use this and other brands but it's not the same as using a good home made paste. A good paste has it's own stamp on it and people order because of this. If you are going to use the Goldfish brand you need to use a pork/chicken stock, MSG, sugar and salt and a little chili oil this will give you a kickass taste. Just adding water will not do the business. Oops sorry for the language.

I'm not convinced that dry frying salt has any effect on the taste at all. It's a Chinese thing same as they hate the smell of pork and soak ribs, pork in water to reduce it. There's no need.