Chinese

There’s nothing like that moment when you taste an Asian dish you made at home and pump your fist in the air because it tastes just like take-out! It’s not hard to get that authentic flavor; all it takes are the right ingredients. Fully stocking an Asian pantry can seem intimidating, but with just 15 basic ingredients, you can make a wide variety of recipes from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and beyond.

A good stir-fry just might be one of my very favorite meals. In addition to the seemingly endless flavor combinations, I know I can rely on getting dinner on the table fast. Making a stir-fry isn’t an exact science, but it does take a little practice and intuition. While I’m an avid stir-fry maker, I’m certainly no expert, so I reached out to someone who is.

While I am a big fan of tips that get dinner on the table faster, I also love techniques that actually make dinner better — even if that means an extra step or two. Velveting chicken for stir-frying is one instance where I don’t mind putting in a little extra time and effort because the end result is so worth it. Velveting will give you tender, juicy chicken every single time you stir-fry.

If you think you can’t make a good stir-fry without a wok, think again. It’s possible, and I’ve been doing it for years. All you need is one tool, and I’m sure you already have it in your kitchen. Living in New York City, storage space in the kitchen is at a premium. It’s forced me to be selective about the appliances, tools, and cookware I buy. Even though I love stir-fry and make it regularly, one piece of cookware that hasn’t made the cut is a wok.

Do you own a wok? If you listen to Grace Young talk about stir-frying for long enough, you’ll certainly start wanting one! The beauty of a carbon-steel wok is it heats quickly and evenly. When you stir-fry it sears meat and chicken perfectly, imparting wok fragrance. While the high sides of the wok are perfect for stir-frying meat and vegetables without crowding the pan or dumping ingredients over the side, a wok is also more than a stir-fry pan.

Given my Chinese descent, the first dumplings I ever ate were Chinese ones — wontons, potstickers, and boiled dumplings. But I’ve also ordered gyoza at Japanese restaurants, which seem similar enough to potstickers. Are all these Asian dumplings essentially the same, especially since I’ve seen them labeled as “Gyoza Potstickers” at stores like Trader Joe’s?

Fried rice is the ultimate easy one-pot meal: starch, veggies, and proteins all thrown together and cooked in a matter of mere minutes. It’s economical and I love to watch the transformation of a handful of seemingly random leftovers or ingredients into something very satisfying. Making fried rice isn’t an exact science: you can throw in a lot of veggies or keep it to mostly rice instead. The most important thing that you need to keep in mind when making fried rice though?

When shopping at Asian markets, you might see these long, flat, brightly-colored green leaves sold in big bunches. They look like very long blades of grass. Take a whiff and you’ll notice a very distinctive smell of garlic. These are nira, otherwise known as garlic chives and Chinese leek!Nira are common in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cooking. They are added to dumplingsstir friessoupskimchigreen onion pancakesThey taste a little bolder than bulb garlic and they have a very good flavor.

I discovered Eight Treasure Tea in Chinatown a few years ago. I was wandering around and found a little tea shop/cafe where you can order any one of their hundreds of teas and enjoy a cup brewed for you. There was one tea propped up on the shelf behind the counter, and the name sounded intriguing; Eight Treasure Tea – so I ordered it. It was sweet and light all at the same time, not too strong or too deep, but a lovely, fragrant flavor. I was hooked.

Perhaps you’ve seen these trees with the beautiful fan-shaped leaves in your neighborhood or in a local park. The female members of these trees produce an edible nut; unfortunately, the fruit enclosing the nut smells really bad. Their fragrance deters most people from trying them, much like the durian fruit. Once the fruit is removed, inside lurks a nut that looks like a closed pistachio. Beneath the shell is a glossy kernel that ranges from golden amber to bright jade in color.

Lotus root is popular as a vegetable throughout South and East Asia, where it is cheap and plentiful. Its texture is crisp and crunchy like a jicama. Unlike a jicama, lotus root can’t be eaten raw, and must be steamed or cooked first. Lotus root is available in Asian markets, and depending on location, I’ve seen them available at farmer’s markets and in the exotic fruit and vegetable section of most supermarket produce departments.