http://www.riverviewcampground.net Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:43:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://www.riverviewcampground.net/top-ten-chinese-food-recipes.html http://www.riverviewcampground.net/top-ten-chinese-food-recipes.html#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:28:07 +0000 admin http://www.crawbot.co.cc/?p=4528

Chinese food is a great way to expand your personal recipe book, especially if you love to use simple, fresh ingredients with quick cooking time. These top ten dishes are famous all over the world, and are must-haves in your collection of Chinese food recipes.

Fried Rice – A must have dish in Chinese restaurants, fried rice is the ultimate Chinese food, and can be one of the most flexible in your cookbook because you can use leftover rice and ingredients to make it.  Of course, you can use fresh ingredients but it’s best to use rice that has been kept in the fridge overnight for best results. Ingredients usually involved in making fried rice are eggs, scallions, diced meat of either beef, chicken or pork, ham, shrimps and vegetables such as celery, peas, carrots, bean sprouts and corn. There are many varieties of fried rice but the more popular ones are the Yangchow and Fujian fried rice.

Kung Pao Chicken – Kung Pao chicken or Kung Po chicken is a Chinese dish from Szechuan cuisine and is considered to be a delicacy. The recipe for this mouth watering dish commonly calls for diced chicken that is pre-seasoned and quickly stir-fried with unsalted roasted peanuts, red bell peppers, rice wine or sherry, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chili peppers. Alternatively, you can use prawn, scallops, beef or pork in place of the chicken.

Moo Shu Pork – This is a dish of northern Chinese origin and a favorite of many. Ingredients in a Mu Xu pork recipe often include green cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, scrambled eggs, carrots, bean sprouts, day lily buds and scallions. Celery, onions, bell peppers, snow pea pods, bok choy and Shiitake mushrooms are occasionally used. The vegetables are cut into long and thin strips before cooking, with the exception for bean sprouts and day lily buds. Fried Mu Xu pork is then wrapped in moo shu pancakes that is brushed with hoisin sauce and eaten by hand. Moo shu pancakes are thin wrappers made of flour that is easily available in supermarkets and steamed just before eating.

General Tso’s Chicken – General Tso’s chicken is a Hunan dish that tastes spicy and sweet and very popular in Chinese restaurants in America and Canada where it’s often marked as a “chef’s specialty”. General Tso’s Chicken recipe commonly involves battered chicken deep-fried and marinated with hot chili peppers, scallions, sugar, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and ginger.

Egg Rolls – Egg rolls are one of the most popular Chinese foods, and for good reason. This savory roll is made by wrapping a combination of chopped cabbage and meats and sometimes noodles in a sheet of dough. It is then dipped in egg and deep fried to perfection. Egg rolls are generally bigger in size  than its cousin spring roll, its skin is thicker and crunchier; and have more filling.

Fortune Cookies – Chinese cooking would simply not be complete without the addition of a recipe for fortune cookies. The ingrediesnts you need to make these treats are some sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla extract, making them a simple way to add some fun to your home cooked Chinese food.

Orange Chicken – This appetizing  Chinese dish is made of chicken chopped into bite size pieces and battered, and then fried with thick sweet and spicy chili sauce flavored with orange. The traditionally Chinese recipe for orange peel chicken as it’s sometimes called, is to deep fry the chicken first and then stir fry it in a lightly sweet soy-based sauce flavored with dried orange peels. Vegetables like baby carrots and bok choy are used as the garnishing. However, cooks in Western restaurants do not use dried orange peel but rather orange juice or fresh orange peel and a substantial amount of sugar to make the sauce. Chili peppers and steamed broccoli are used as garnishing instead.

Sweet and Sour Pork – This savory-sweet famous Chinese dish is of Cantonese origin. It is a good dish to prepare when you are planning on having guests, who will be wildly impressed with your cooking skill. As with other Chinese food recipes, the key to making a great Sweet and Sour Pork dish is in the sauce made of sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and soy sauce. Its ingredients include pork, onion, bell pepper and pineapple chopped into bite size pieces.

Mapo Dofu – Mapo doufu or Mapo tofu is a popular Chinese dish from the Szechuan province. Ingredients used for this recipe include tofu or beancurd, and minced beef or pork cooked in a bright red spicy sauce based on chili.

Chop Suey – Chop suey or “za sui” or “shap sui” literally means ‘mixed pieces’ is an American-Chinese dish usually employs leftover vegetables and meats stir fried quickly in a sauce thickened with starch. It is a great dish when you need to use up the last of yesterday’s chicken or pork roast and can incorporate meats of any kind such as pork, shrimp, beef, fish or chicken and various vegetables from bean sprouts to cabbage and celery. Chop Suey is often eaten with rice.

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With its firm meaty texture, medium flavour and a great source of Omega 3 tuna is an excellent fish to eat all year round.

Although more traditionally people associated tuna with the tinned variety, tuna steaks are becoming increasingly popular in restaurants and homes. TV chefs have brought the publics attention to the fast and simple ways to prepare tuna dishes and promote the health benefits of eating tuna.

Tuna is very easy to cook. It should be flash grilled, griddled or pan fired rather than baked, as baking will dry the fish out and spoil the texture. Due to the meaty flesh tuna steaks are can be eaten when rare or medium-rare in a similar way to beef steak, without having a detrimental effect on health.

Packed full of protein tuna provides a hearty meal in minutes. Tuna flambe au poivre with toasted pine nuts is the ideal way to serve tuna to family or friends. Accompany the tuna steaks with asparagus tips or sugar snap peas for an exciting, healthy meal which is full of natural goodness and low in calories.

Tuna steaks can be purchased frozen throughout the year, making them a readily available source of protein. One of the advantages of buying frozen is less wastage. With all the preparation carried out for you it is simply a matter of taking out the number of tuna steaks you need to use for a particular recipe or number of people eating.

The popular salad tuna nicoise is quite often made with tinned tuna. A far more flavoursome version is to use tuna steaks. As rare tuna steaks only take one or two minutes each side to cook this classical tuna supper dish can be prepared and cooked in the same time as it takes to open a tin and provide a far more substantial meal.

As tuna can be eaten rare it is the ideal food for cooking on the barbeque. There will be no worries about the health risks associated with under cooked poultry, meat or sausages, eating tuna steaks cooked on a barbeque is a healthy alternative. Adding the juice of a freshly squeezed lime provides a tasty zing for the palette which compliments the tuna beautifully.

Tuna steaks provide an excellent source of protein, vitamins, minerals and Omega 3 oil which is needed as part as a healthy diet. Omega 3 oil can help reduce the risk of heart disease and is used to treat numerous other medical conditions including anxiety and depression. The short amount of time needed to cook tuna means that all the nutritional value is retained during cooking.

As tuna is low in calories it is the ideal fish to use for people trying to lose or control their weight. The substantial firm texture of tuna meat provides a hearty healthy meal which is low in calories. Due to the oily properties of tuna only a very small amount of cooking oil, such as olive oil, is needed to cook it. Grilling or griddling is probably the best way to cook tuna if you are on a diet. There are various tasty tuna recipes available online if you are unsure how to cook or serve this delicious fish.

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From soups to pies your favorite recipes will love what dried food can do for them when you purchase from your choice of food dehydrators. Recipes will be enhanced with dried foods and you will be able to store dry foods longer to prepare whenever you need that special recipe. From apples to thyme dried foods can help your recipes taste their best and you can dry those special ingredients with dehydrators. When you have a special recipe you want it to taste just right a dried ingredient may just be what separates your recipe from all the rest and makes it the best.

When you are making your specialty recipes you want to make sure that you always have the ingredients you need. If you find yourself needing an ingredient that is out of season you can now have the ingredients you need anytime when you dehydrate those special ingredients. Dehydrating fruits, nuts, herbs and spices can help you have what you need to complete your favorite recipes even if that ingredient is out of season. If you have the capability to dry foods you can have what you need at anytime you may need it. Dehydration can also give you what you need when it comes to recipes with vegetables. Vegetables can be dehydrated also and you can make as much as you need or as little as you need. So making that great vegetable soup recipe is possible even in the middle of winter when you use dehydration to dry your vegetables.

Freshness sometimes is what may make or break a recipe. When you want fresh herbs and spices for any recipe drying them with food dehydrators may be what sets your recipe a part form everyone else. Drying your own herbs and spices allows them to be as fresh as possible and allows your recipe to soak up the entire great fresh flavor. Drying your own herbs and spices will also give you pride in knowing that you are providing the freshest ingredients you can in all your recipes.

Drying fruits for pies is another way a dehydrator can come in handy especially when fruit is off season. If you want to make the best apple pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas you can dry your apples in the summer when they are in season, which means if you buy them you will save money. Once you have your apples dry them and they will be ready anytime you want to make the best tasting apple pies for your family and friends. You can also dry other fruits to make your favorite pies. Maybe it isn’t pie you want to make but breads and muffins your dessert choices are endless when you dry your fruit.

You will love what drying fruits, nuts, vegetables and herbs & spices do to your favorite family recipes. Everyone will love the freshness and the taste that dehydration can bring to all your recipes. So make your choice from the food dehydrators that are available to you and your recipes will love it.

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