createEveryday Chinese Cooking
I’ll never forget my first foray into Chinese cooking — hours of chopping followed my minutes of frantic frying. So I’ll be the first to admit that I was little skeptical of a book that claimed to make Chinese cooking simple. But that is exactly what Leeann and Katie Chin have managed to produce. They are a mother and daughter team and the stars of the PBS television show “Double Happiness.” Their easy manner on the show translates to simple to follow recipes designed for the cooks of all levels.
Leeann explains that finding herself transplanted to Minnesota and raising a family she had to adapt her cooking to the ingredients available, a limited budget and the hectic schedule of a time-strapped mother. The result is a book full of delicious easy to prepare recipes that don’t require impossible to find ingredients and won’t leave you slaving in the kitchen.
Everyday Chinese Cooking is a perfect guide for those of you looking to expand your culinary horizons. Try it and see.
The authors, who are members of GreatGrub, have put up three recipes from this cookbook for you to try. They are that confident that once you find out how easy and tasty they are you will no doubt rush out and buy the book.
The Firecracker shrimp are delicious. I first had these at a cocktail party and my poor wife was horrified by the quantity I consumed. She need not have been embarrassed, however, as our fellow guests were doing the same.
Fish is hard, or so the truism goes. When you factor in that cooking Chinese is supposed to be hours of preparation you’d think that a Chinese fish dish should only be attempted by experienced chef’s trained in China. Oh how wrong you would be. If you are looking for a quick, simple and delicious dinner try the Chinese salmon steak.
And finally I cannot recommend the Chinese New Year Dumplings highly enough. They are fun to make and are ideal for creating a meal that the whole family can get involved in. My kids love to make these dumplings almost as much as they love to eat them.
I simply love this book.
I love Chinese cuisine but have resisted cooking it too often because it rarely seems to come out anything like I intend. The recipes in this book are simple and not remotely intimidating, yet capture the flavour of authentic Chinese cuisine so that not only will you feel like you are eating out, but your guests will be wonderfully impressed! Not such a bad thing.
The panfried shrimp with spicy sauce (page 132) is up there with my favourite dishes. And it can be prepped and cooked in a minutes.