Cook Restaurant-Style

Chinese Recipes

With These Eight Pantry Staples

Be it a paneer chilli dry recipe prepared at a popular restaurant or a Chinese fried rice recipe whipped up on a street cart, all Chinese recipes feature a burst of variety of flavours. These exotic flavours come from ingredients that are readily available. If you are planning to make Chinese food at home, you might not need all of them. In fact, you only need a few basic ingredients to cook most Chinese dishes. So be ready to stock up on these basic staples that you will use over and over again in Chinese cooking.

Soy sauce is a must-have ingredient for cooking Chinese meals. It is used to add flavour and depth to a wide range of recipes, including paneer chilli (dry) and Chinese fried rice. There are different types of soy sauce, including dark, light, and sweet. Light soy sauce is the most commonly used type of soy sauce and has a thin, watery consistency, whereas dark and sweet soy sauces are generally thicker and darker.

Another important ingredient to have in the pantry is vinegar, which gives Chinese dishes their tang. The most widely used type of vinegar in Indo-Chinese cooking is white vinegar, which is used in gravies and stir-fries. It counteracts the saltiness of the soy sauce and the heat of the chillies, commonly used in the chilli chicken and paneer chilli recipes. A drop of vinegar sprinkled at the end of cooking also helps improve the dish's overall flavour.

Ajinomoto, often called MSG, is what many people think of when they talk about that classic restaurant taste in Chinese dishes. It boosts the savoury, umami side of the food. The overall flavour does not change much. If you add a small pinch to Chinese fried rice, the difference is easier to notice. The same idea works for Chinese noodle recipes too. It is optional, meaning you do not have to use it, so you can leave it out. Still, it shows up in many Indo-Chinese kitchens in India.

Egg noodles are a common base for stir-fry dishes such as Hakka noodles and Chow Mein. They are made with wheat flour and eggs. The eggs help the noodles stretch a bit and stay firm. They also give a warm colour and a bouncy bite. When you cook them in a hot wok, they hold up well and do not turn soft quickly. Their taste is mild, so they take on the flavours around them. Egg noodles boil fast and soak up pan juices, dark soy sauce, and fragrant oils. That makes them easy to use on short notice. Keep a pack in your pantry, and you can make Indo-Chinese noodle meals, mix them with crunchy vegetables, or serve them with tossed chicken when you want.

Corn flour, also called cornstarch, is a key pantry item for Indo-Chinese cooking. When mixed with cold water, it forms a slurry. Once it hits heat, the starch thickens quickly. That is how thin liquids turn into smooth, glossy sauces, like the kind in chilli chicken gravy. It does more than just thicken. Corn flour helps fried items get crisp. It works well for deep-frying proteins and paneer in chilli dry dishes. Quick frying on high heat helps retain moisture inside. At the same time, it builds a light, crunchy crust. Even after tossing with hot wok sauces, the crunch can last.

Ginger and garlic form the aromatic base of Chinese cuisine, providing the flavour foundation for all wok-cooked dishes and gravies. Minced, diced, and julienned, they are cooked in hot oil to release their aromatic, volatile flavours and heat. It is through this method of high-temperature stir-frying that the necessary savoury base of Chinese fried rice, stir-fried noodles, and Chinese chicken dishes is made. Ginger penetrates fat with its sharp flavour, while garlic adds umami depth to dishes like paneer chilli dry and gravies.

As part of the Chinese holy trinity, along with ginger and garlic, spring onions (scallions) are used both in cooking and for garnishing. The white part is used at the initial stage of cooking, along with ginger and garlic, to create the flavourful base of the dish, while the green part is used in the final stage. Spring onions play an important role in many Chinese dishes, from Chinese fried rice to Chinese chicken recipes, imparting a fresh, delicate onion flavour.