35 Copycat Chinese Restaurant Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What are the three main ingredients in Chinese food? ›

Green Onion, Ginger, Garlic for Chinese Food

The most Iconic Ingredient(s) after soy sauce would be Green Onion, Ginger, and Garlic (GGG).

Nowadays it's made out of a base of salty liquid, such as soy sauce, with sugar and a mix of spices. And it's not just a marinade — it's also used to finish the dish once it's cooked. Lu is the secret sauce at the heart of many Chinese family cuisines. To Peter, his Lu sauce is also a heritage from his beloved mother.

Chinese daily meals consist of four food groups: grains, vegetables, fruit, and meat. Because of lactose intolerance, Chinese do not consume large amounts of dairy products. Instead, Chinese substitute these with soymilk and tofu, which also contain large amounts of protein and calcium.

The base for many Chinese recipes is as follows - Chinese five-spice (often contains more than five spices) is a mix of brown cardamom, pepper, star anise (and or fennel seeds), dried tangerine peel, cassia or cinnamon, and cloves. Szechuan pepper can also be added.

Chinese cooks normally use soybean oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil, all of which have a high smoke point. Peanut oil usually has a pleasant nutty flavor and is suitable not only for stir-frying but also for deep-frying. Canola oil, which has a high smoke point but a neutral flavor, is also a good choice.

Oyster sauce is commonly used in Chinese food and adds a savory, salty, umami flavor. Both can be found in most grocery stores. If you like, you can add grated or minced ginger or garlic. Serve your homemade brown sauce with a beef, chicken, or pork stir-fry or chow mein dish.

Soy sauce (jiàng yóu, 酱油), the most common of Chinese sauces, sounds simple, and for the most part, it is.

The menu is usually simple: noodles or rice, plus some meat and vegetables; no more than three dishes. But if there is a business lunch or any important lunch appointment, the lunch menu is usually richer and more varied (more like dinner).

The Chinese categorise the taste of food into five flavours: sweet, bitter, sour, spicy and salty. Chinese medicine regards that eating certain flavours can help the function of the five organs to balance your health, as well as treat disease and recover from illness.

What is the main base of Chinese food? ›

Rice is a primary staple food for people from rice farming areas in southern China. Steamed rice, usually white rice, is the most commonly eaten form. People in South China also like to use rice to make congee as breakfast. Rice is also used to produce beer, baijiu and vinegar.

They include firewood (柴 chái), rice (米 mĭ), oil (油 yóu), salt (鹽 yán), sauce (醬 jiàng), vinegar (醋 cù), tea (茶 chá).