Martin Yan

If you're in the mood for Chinese food, don't go out — try cooking it yourself! Cooking Chinese food at home can be quick, easy, and fun. To get started, you need to know the basic ingredients, tools, and techniques to make your Chinese cooking the best it can be.Basic Tools for Chinese CookingIn Chinese cooking (or any other cuisine), you can usually use the kitchen tools you already have.

Removing shells from shrimp is pretty easy, whether they’re cooked or raw. To shell shrimp, you need just your hands. If you want, put on a pair of vinyl gloves to prevent shrimp-scented hands. If you have a fresh lemon, though, you can use some of the juice to wash away the “fragrance.”Hold the shrimp by the tail with one hand, and then use the thumb and forefinger of the other hand to grasp the shrimp’s legs and edge of the shell.

The Chinese have a long tradition of using herbs and spices to boost a dish’s flavor (and provide nutritional benefits). You can now find many Chinese herbs and spices at supermarkets and specialty food stores. For Chinese culinary creations, you can’t go wrong with these Chinese herbs and spices: Chinese five-spice powder: The Chinese have long believed that the number five has special curative and healing powers, which is why this light cocoa-colored powder originally contained five specific spices.

Potstickers are Chinese dumplings that are steamed and then fried. The combination of steaming and pan-frying the potstickers gives the dumpling wrappers an irresistible balance between smooth and noodlelike on top, and crispy and caramelized on the bottom. Potstickers, despite the name, shouldn’t actually stick to your wok, though.

Chinese cooking encompasses thousands of sauces and condiments, and thanks to your supermarket’s Asian food aisle, many classic Chinese sauces and condiments are readily available. Some of these flavors are strong, some are subtle. Either way, it’s fun to experiment with these intriguing ingredients. Black bean sauce: Made of salted black beans and rice wine; has a savory, slightly salty flavor that sometimes gets a little kick from garlic and hot chiles.

Sometimes called egg drop soup, this version of egg flower soup is surprisingly quick and easy to make. Egg flower soup is a great dish when your cupboards are almost bare and you just can’t summon the energy to fix anything more complicated. The name “egg flower soup” often confounds Western diners: For one thing, the soup contains no flowers.

The Chinese love their noodles and have for centuries. The shapes of Chinese noodles may not vary as much as do those of Italian pasta, but the different ingredients used to make Chinese noodles do set one variety apart from the next: Egg noodles: Of all the Chinese noodles, egg noodles bear the strongest resemblance to Western pasta.

By using vegetable shortening instead of the traditional lard in these almond cookies, this recipe creates almond cookies that are a little bit crispier — and with a lot less cholesterol. Credit: Michael Lamotte/Cole Group/PhotoDisc Preparation time: 20 minutes, plus 1 hour for the dough to rest Cooking time: About 15 minutes per batch Yield: About 32 cookies 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup solid vegetable shortening 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract 1/2 cup chopped blanched almonds 32 almond halves Sift the flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a bowl.

Caramelized bananas are a classic Chinese restaurant dessert. With this banana recipe you end up with a crackly, cooled candy glaze surrounding soft, piping-hot bananas at the center — the best of both worlds. Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes Yield: 4 servings 1 tablespoon sesame seeds 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 egg 4 firm bananas Cooking oil for deep-frying 7 tablespoons sugar 2 1/2 tablespoons water Ice cubes in cold water Place the sesame seeds in a small frying pan over medium heat, shaking the pan frequently until the seeds are lightly browned, about 3 minutes.