Try to vary the meat and vegetables in a dish, so that there is an interesting variety of flavors, textures, and colors. Prepare everything before you start cooking: meat, vegetables, and sauces.
Wash green, leafy vegetables ahead of time. This gives them more time to drain so they will not be too wet when you stir-fry.
While it’s nice to own one, you don’t need a cleaver to cook Chinese food.
Place all the cut vegetables on a tray or cooking sheet. That way, you won’t forget anything. Just be careful not to mix them up, as cooking times will vary among vegetables.
Drain tofu before using, as this allows it to absorb the other flavors in the dish.
Marinate fresh meat.
Always cut beef across the grain.
Cut the meat into uniform pieces so that it will cook more evenly. If you’re not using a recipe, a general rule is to cut everything into bite-sized pieces.
When adding oil for stir-frying, drizzle the oil down the sides of the wok.
When deep-frying, to tell if the oil is hot enough, simply stick a chopstick in the wok. When the oil sizzles all around it, you can begin adding the food.
Don’t use dark soy sauce unless the recipe specifically calls for it. When a recipe simply says to add soy or soya sauce, use light soy sauce or one of the Japanese brands such as Kikkoman.
INGREDIENTS
(1) 1 portion hot water dough (about 2C flour)
(2) 1 /3lb. ham, 2/3lb. ground pork, 1 bamboo shoot. 2 scallions
SEASONINGS
1T cooking wine, ground peppercorn as needed, 2T water. 4T sesame oil
METHODS
1. Divide dough into small balls, roll each ball into a circle.
2. Stuffing; Steam ham until done. dice; mince pork even more finely, add all seasonings, stir well, dice bamboo shoot; dice scallions, add to prok together with ham. mix well.
3. Place a little stuffing in the center of each dough circle, fold over, press edges tightly to seal, remove to steamer, steam on high for 8 minutes, remove and serve.
From nicechinesefood.com
