Chinese Cuisine at Home

Chinese cooking has complex, technique-driven elements, which makes it a bit daunting for the average home cook. But if you’re as obsessed with it as I am, that shouldn’t stop you from cooking Chinese food in your own kitchen. So, I’d suggest that you get a great cookbook, and cook a new dish twice a week. Next, make sure you have the right equipment (a good wok, a bamboo steamer) and the proper pastes, vinegars, oils, spices and ingredients (and yes, this means you’ll most likely need to go to your local Asian market). Here are a few of my favorite recipes to get you started.

Boiled Chinese Dumplings	Easy Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce	Braised Cucumbers with Pork and Ginger
Aromatic Soy Sauce Noodles	Pork & Asparagus with Chile-Garlic Sauce	Wok-Tossed Asparagus in Black Bean Sauce
Pearl Rice Balls	Fish-Fragrant Eggplant	Cold Peanut Sesame Noodles

Reading List

• Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Beyond the Great Wall by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid
• Hot Sour Salty Sweet by Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid
• The Cuisines of Asia by Jennifer Brennan
• The Wisdom of the Chinese Kitchen by Grace Young
• The Dim Sum Book by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo