Tag: Fruits And Vegetables

Fun Chinese Recipes for Kids

There are a lot of Chinese recipes out there that are not only familiar but very fun to make. From egg rolls to won tons, not only are they delicious but you can get the entire family involved in the cooking process.

Kids love to make egg rolls and won tons and enjoy having the freedom to put their own ingredients inside.

A fun way to change around your typical egg roll recipe is to let your family decide what goes into them. You can use anything from cheddar cheese and ham to peanut butter and jelly.

The fun part is the rolling. Its a great family experience to sit together and create something. Even if it doesnt turn out perfect, its the effort that makes it great.

Won tons are basically smaller and differently shaped egg rolls and are a lot of fun to make too. Even a 4 year old can make a won ton so families of all ages can do this together.

Traditionally, won tons have ground pork, onions, and special Chinese vegetables and seasoning but just like egg rolls, you can mix it up a little.

Some cream cheese or frosting inside and some cinnamon and sugar can make for an interesting treat that everyone will like.

For older kids, you can teach them to make almost anything if they are willing. They can help chop vegetables, learn to cook rice, or even make a stir fry with little help.

It can be very rewarding to have your family help in the kitchen and it might even become a hobby or career for them one day.

Chinese Vegetable Recipes

Chinese vegetable recipes are very popular these days because everyone is always on a diet. With the right recipes on hand, you could easily drop a few pounds a month by eating delicious Chinese food a couple times a week.

Many people immediately think of things like bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, and bok choy. While these are common Chinese vegetables, not that many recipes use them.

They are just usually prepackaged in the frozen food section with anything that says Chinese on it. There are many more vegetables you can use to give your recipes a distinctly Chinese flavor.

Chinese cabbage is one of the best tasting and useful vegetables you can buy. Its not as tangy or large as normal cabbage and has a great flavor.

You can use this in salads, soups and stir fry to add a more authentic Chinese taste and look to your food or improve any standard Chinese recipe. It doesnt hold up well under high heat so it should always be added last.

A great way to make your Chinese recipe really special is to add a handful of fresh snow pea pods. These are very sweet and are commonly found in soups like won ton. They can really add something special to any stir fry and go great with seafood.

Every grocery store has a section that will have some Chinese vegetables. If you like the taste of ginger, it can be used to spice up almost any recipe you have.

It can be overpowering though. You will also see many things that look like leeks and green onions. If you dont know what they are, it doesnt hurt to buy some, take it home and find a recipe for it. You might find a new favorite vegetable!

Chinese Recipe Tips

Chinese recipes usually call for very specific ingredients and ways to cook everything. There are many tips you can use to save time and money and still have a top notch meal or add ingredients to make a good meal great.

You can cut corners on rice, kinds of oil, even the kind of meats you use. Many people take the meat out of a recipe and call it vegetarian.

A delicious alternative to regular cooking oil is sesame oil. Just a few drops mixed with your normal oil or used by itself, sesame oil makes any dish have a very unique flavor.

Shrimp cooked in vegetable oil tastes like greasy shrimp but shrimp cooked in sesame oil taste like a Chinese treat. Sesame oil has a strong and unique flavor that many people automatically associate with Chinese food.

It is higher in fat so if you are on a diet, it might not be a good choice.

Rice is common in all kinds of Chinese recipes. If you make a lot of Chinese food, you can cook a lot more rice than you know you will use.

You can freeze this excess rice and use it later on for fried rice. This will save you the trouble of cooking a whole new batch and it tastes just as good.

Dont be afraid to change recipes. If you have a great recipe for chicken, try using crab or shrimp next time or changing some vegetables around.

You might have just created your own unique recipe! This can be a lot of fun and the more familiar with Chinese recipes you get, the better your creations will be.

Chinese Recipe Cookware Substitutions

So, you have got a great Chinese recipe you want to try out but you realize you are not prepared at all for the demands of Chinese cooking.

Well, there are many ways you can recreate what you should have with what you might have on hand. This goes for cookware as well as actual food ingredients.

An important part of cooking any Chinese recipe to perfection is to use the right cookware. Many people dont own a wok or rice cooker however and will have to use what they have in the kitchen.

A normal frying pan can work as a wok but its best to use a very deep frying pan that is at least 1 and a half inches deep.

Woks rely on oil and high heat to cook meat and vegetables and if you use a shallow pan, grease will get all over and might even spill out and start on fire. Thats no good at all.

For rice, a normal saucepan will work but you need to make sure you have a tight fitting lid. Tin foil over the top will work in an emergency but can burn you and is not recommended.

Many Chinese recipes call for a meat or seafood to be breaded and deep fried. Without a deep fryer, you are going to have a mess no matter what.

The deepest cooking pot or saucepan you have will work but will probably splash all over no matter how you try to contain it.

These are basic solutions but having the proper equipment can really make a difference. An electric wok is very easy to clean and can also be used to deep fry.

A rice cooker really isnt necessary unless you truly cant cook rice. Buy what you need and have fun with your new recipes.

Chinese Noodle Recipes

Chinese noodle recipes can be very fun to make and the entire family can get involved. Many Chinese noodle recipes call for fresh homemade noodles.

These are very easy to make. They usually use wheat or rice flour mixed with water and maybe some egg or milk (depending on the recipe) and then they get rolled out and cut.

Of course, before you start on a recipe that calls for these types of noodles, you might want a recipe for the noodles themselves.

These are in most cookbooks and all over the Internet. You should be able to find the perfect one in just minutes.

In addition to rice, noodles are very important to Chinese culture and are a part of many different types of Chinese recipe.

From very easy dishes that are just noodles, meat, vegetables and sauce to complex dishes that use very specific types of noodles, they are usually delicious.

Noodles are typically boiled after they are made. Sometimes, a recipe might call for them to be fried in some kind of oil until they are crispy.

Chinese noodles cook a lot faster than Italian pasta because the ingredients are different and the shapes vary greatly.

The boiled noodles can be used in soups, stir fry, with a hearty sauce, or almost anything. Noodles can also be substituted for rice in many different dishes.

You can always buy noodles from the store or an Asian market for your cooking and this decreases the time you will spend in the kitchen and is a lot less mess.

For families with kids, making the noodles from scratch can be a fun bonding experience and might help get your kids interested in all types of cooking.