Must-haves for cooking Chinese
One needs some standard ingredients to cook an “authentic” Chinese meal. The word “authentic” is always debatable when discussing Chinese cuisine in India as most of the restaurants serving Chinese food use bastardised recipes to suit the Indian palate.
Outside super-speciality restaurants, perhaps the most authentic Chinese can be had at Tangra, Kolkata’s China town where the earliest Chinese migrants to India settled. There are a few things one needs to cook a decent Chinese meal.
Wok
A normal kadhai will do at a pinch, but what sets the Chinese wok aside is its long handle which is particularly useful while stir frying.
Cleaver
The Chinese cleaver is a finely balanced knife that is used to cut meat, poultry and veggies.
Soy sauce
Almost every Chinese dish uses soy sauce and it comes in two main variants — Dark and light.
Noodles
Egg noodles, which are the most common variant available in India will suffice. Some recipes may call for cellophane noodles.
Black/yellow bean paste
They are salted fermented soya bean paste.
Dried mushrooms
While normal button mushrooms are available everywhere, some recipes need mushrooms that are not readily available like cloud mushrooms and shitake mushrooms. They are, however, available in dried form and a packet will last a year or more in the fridge.
Chinese five spice powder
This is quite similar to our garam masala and includes Szechwan peppercorn, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds.
Chilli Oil
Chilli oil can always be used to add that extra zing often missing from recipes that many Indians find bland.
Other ingredients needed for Chinese cooking are oyster sauce, plum sauce, cooking wine or sherry and rice vinegar.
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