Preparing Quick and Easy Recipes, Chinese Style

Imagine this situation, you are at home during the weekends and you suddenly started craving for Chinese food. But then you remember that your favorite Chinese food that delivers is close during the weekends. You thought of going out and getting some Chinese food but the next restaurant is quite far and you just don’t want to make that trip for Chinese food. Now all this trouble might have been avoided if you only knew how to cook Chinese food. Knowing some quick and easy Chinese recipes can really make a difference.

Generally, the easiest Chinese food can be cooked in just 10 to 15 minutes. Most of the easy ones involve just stir frying the ingredients and before you know it you’re enjoying a hot meal with your chopsticks. What actually takes long is the preparation. Nevertheless, there are several cooking preparation tips that you can apply to make your life a lot easier.

To be able to cook a hot Oriental meal quickly, you should learn to prepare the ingredients before hand. For example, ginger can be peeled, sealed in a jar and place inside the refrigerator until needed and believe me you will need ginger almost all the time. It is one of the most used ingredients in Chinese cooking.

You could also do better if you have prepared the meat and vegetables ahead of time. Basically this means you are anticipating that you will crave for Chinese food anytime. If you like the food, I don’t see why this should be any problem. With meat you should cut them in uniform sizes so stir-frying them is a lot easier and they cook faster as well. You can cover the cut meat with a plastic wrap and store them inside your refrigerator. The same goes with vegetables. Wash, cut and store them.

I know that this is not an ideal practice but if you’re really out of time or you want that Chinese food really fast, an option for vegetables would be to use frozen and/or canned ones. You can find in your supermarket frozen vegetables that are already prepared for stir-frying. Canned Chinese vegetables such as bamboo shoots and mushrooms are also available in the market. There’s no substitute for fresh vegetables though.

Remember your sauce concoctions. You can use the same sauce recipes for other Chinese dishes. This way you save time from experimenting every time you cook. You can do a lot with a few tablespoons of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and even sugar. Or another option would be to settle with ready-made sauce or marinade. There should be several flavors to choose from.

Actually you’ll be surprised on what you can find in your supermarket’s shelves. There is an assortment of products which can make your cooking a lot simpler and easier. From canned vegetables and meat, to instant broths, marinades and sauces, you can have that Oriental flavor in a flash just by adding water, boiling or including the flavors in your cooking.

But one of the best tricks, if you find yourself in a pinch is learn to simplify the recipe. A quick and easy Chinese recipe involves simplifying your ingredients, preparation and cooking. Although, experimentation can indeed lead to some truly incredible meals, but when your in a rush and someone’s already waiting for their meals, it would be best to stick to the tried and tested recipes, at least for the now.