China
54 recipes to explore
Kung Pao Chicken
A fiery Sichuan classic featuring tender chicken wok-tossed with roasted peanuts, dried red chilies, and mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. The sauce strikes the perfect balance between sweet, sour, salty, and intensely spicy.
Mapo Tofu
Sichuan's most famous dish: silky tofu in a fiery, glossy sauce of chili bean paste, fermented black beans and minced pork, finished with the tingling, numbing buzz of Sichuan pepper. Bold, addictive and ready in 25 minutes.
Egg Drop Soup
A silky, gently thickened chicken broth with delicate ribbons of egg, seasoned with white pepper, sesame oil and scallions. Comforting, light and on the table in 15 minutes.
Pork and Shrimp Wonton Soup
Silky Cantonese wontons filled with juicy pork and snappy shrimp, floating in a clear, ginger-scented broth with tender bok choy. Make a big batch โ they freeze beautifully.
Pork and Cabbage Dumplings (Jiaozi)
Northern Chinese dumplings with a juicy pork, napa cabbage and ginger filling, boiled until tender or pan-fried into crispy-bottomed potstickers. Serve with a black vinegar and chili oil dip.
Steamed Spare Ribs with Black Bean Sauce
A dim sum classic: bite-size pork spare ribs marinated with fermented black beans, garlic and chili, then steamed until tender and juicy in their own savoury sauce. Simple to make at home.
Shrimp Fried Rice
Day-old rice tossed in a smoking-hot wok with juicy shrimp, fluffy egg, peas and scallions until every grain is separate and lightly toasted. Ready in 20 minutes and better than takeout.
Dan Dan Noodles
Chengdu's famous street noodles: springy wheat noodles sitting in a pool of chili oil, sesame paste and black vinegar, topped with crispy savoury pork and preserved vegetable. Toss everything together before eating.
Cold Sesame Noodles with Chicken
Chilled wheat noodles coated in a creamy sauce of sesame paste, soy, black vinegar and chili oil, topped with poached shredded chicken, crisp cucumber and scallions. A refreshing summer favourite.
Pork and Vegetable Lo Mein
Soft egg noodles tossed in the wok with tender strips of pork, bok choy, carrot, mushrooms and bean sprouts in a glossy oyster and soy sauce. A one-pan weeknight dinner in 25 minutes.
Chongqing Chicken (La Zi Ji)
Bite-size pieces of chicken fried until shatteringly crisp, then tossed in the wok with a mountain of dried red chilies, Sichuan peppercorns and garlic. Hunting for the chicken among the chilies is half the fun.
Shandong Chicken (You Lin Ji)
Crisp-skinned chicken thighs, fried and sliced, then drenched in a sharp, garlicky dressing of soy, black vinegar, sugar and chili. Bright, tangy and impossible to stop eating.
Cantonese Sweet and Sour Pork (Gu Lou Yuk)
Crisp, double-fried nuggets of pork shoulder tossed with pineapple, peppers and onion in a glossy, tangy sauce of rice vinegar, ketchup and sugar. The Cantonese original behind a worldwide favourite.
Char Siu (Cantonese Barbecue Pork)
Pork shoulder marinated overnight in hoisin, soy, honey and five-spice, then roasted and lacquered with honey until sticky, glossy and charred at the edges. Slice over rice, into noodles or buns.
Steamed Pork Cake (Zheng Rou Bing)
A Cantonese home-cooking favourite: seasoned minced pork with crunchy water chestnuts and shiitake, pressed into a plate and steamed until tender and juicy in its own savoury broth. Perfect spooned over rice.
Chinese Pepper Steak
Tender, velveted strips of beef stir-fried with green and red peppers and onion in a savoury oyster-sauce gravy, finished with plenty of cracked black pepper. A fast, satisfying weeknight wok dish.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
A Cantonese seafood-restaurant favourite: shell-on shrimp flash-fried until the shells turn crisp enough to eat, then tossed with fried garlic, fresh chili, scallions and a punchy salt-and-pepper mix.
Cantonese Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion
A whole white fish steamed until just flaky, topped with fine shreds of ginger and scallion, then finished with sizzling hot oil and a light, sweet soy sauce. Clean, delicate and elegant.
Moo Shu Vegetables
A northern Chinese stir-fry of fluffy egg, shiitake and wood ear mushrooms, cabbage and carrot, rolled up at the table in thin Mandarin pancakes brushed with hoisin sauce.
Sichuan Garlic Eggplant (Yu Xiang Qie Zi)
Silky, melting eggplant in a glossy sweet, sour and spicy sauce of chili bean paste, garlic, ginger and black vinegar. Despite the name 'fish-fragrant', there's no fish at all โ it's fully vegan.
Hot and Sour Cabbage (Suan La Bai Cai)
Napa cabbage flash-fried in a scorching wok with dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, then splashed with black vinegar so it's smoky, tangy and still crunchy. Ready in under 20 minutes.
Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce (Gai Lan)
Bright green gai lan blanched until tender-crisp, then drizzled with a glossy oyster sauce and sizzling garlic oil. The classic Cantonese side dish, ready in 10 minutes.
Peking Roast Duck (ๅไบฌ็ค้ธญ)
A whole duck dried, lacquered with a maltose glaze and roasted in two stages until the skin is deep mahogany and shatteringly crisp. Carved at the table and rolled into thin pancakes with scallion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce.
Sichuan Hot Pot (ๅๅท็ซ้ )
A fiery, numbing mala broth bubbling at the centre of the table, built from beef tallow, chili bean paste and Sichuan peppercorns, for everyone to cook their own thin-sliced meats, tofu and vegetables in. The best kind of meal: slow, shared, and loud with chopsticks.
Scallion Pancake (่ฑๆฒน้ฅผ)
A hot-water dough rolled, oiled and coiled with scallions, then pan-fried until the layers shatter into crisp, flaky shards. Savory, oniony and best eaten hot, torn into wedges.
Lanzhou Beef Noodle Soup (ๅ ฐๅท็่้ข)
Hand-pulled wheat noodles in a crystal-clear, deeply spiced beef broth, finished with chili oil, tender radish and fresh cilantro. The famous breakfast noodle of Gansu province, made the proper way at home.
BBQ Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao)
Pillow-soft steamed buns filled with sticky, caramelized barbecued pork in a glossy sweet-savory sauce. The classic teahouse treat, made foolproof at home from scratch.
Hainanese Chicken Rice (ๆตทๅ้ธก้ฅญ)
A whole chicken poached low and slow until silky and tender, served over rice cooked in its own golden fat and broth, with punchy ginger-scallion sauce and a bright chilli sauce on the side.
Yangzhou Fried Rice (ๆฌๅท็้ฅญ)
Fluffy day-old rice fried fast and hot with shrimp, ham, egg and sweet peas, each grain separate and lightly glossy. A restaurant classic that is just as good, and even more fragrant, made at home.
Lion's Head Meatballs (Shฤซzitรณu, ็ฎๅญๅคด)
Giant, pillowy pork meatballs, hand-chopped for a loose, shaggy texture, gently braised with napa cabbage in a clear, savoury broth. A classic of Jiangsu's refined Huaiyang cuisine, and one of the most comforting pork dishes in Chinese home cooking.
Candied Hawthorn Skewers (Tanghulu)
Tart little hawthorn berries threaded on skewers and dipped in syrup cooked to a glassy, crackling shell. A beloved winter street snack from northern China, crunchy on the outside and sharply fruity inside.
Chinese Breakfast Crepe (Jianbing)
A thin savory crepe cooked with a whole egg right on top, folded around a crisp fried cracker, fresh cilantro and scallion, and brushed with sweet and spicy sauces. This is China's favourite grab-and-go breakfast, made foolproof at home.
Mooncake (ๆ้ฅผ)
A thin, golden syrup-sweetened crust wrapped tightly around smooth lotus seed paste and a glossy salted egg yolk, baked until deeply fragrant. The quiet centrepiece of every Mid-Autumn Festival table.
Bubble Milk Tea (็็ ๅฅถ่ถ)
Strong black tea shaken ice-cold with milk and poured over chewy, brown-sugar-glazed tapioca pearls. Made from scratch, the pearls stay soft and springy for hours, not the hard little bullets you get from a bad batch.
Sour Plum Drink (Suanmeitang)
A ruby-dark, tangy-sweet Beijing classic simmered from smoked dried plums, hawthorn and rock sugar, finished with a whisper of osmanthus and served ice-cold. The ultimate thirst-quencher for hot summer days.
Shanghai Soup Dumplings (Xiaolongbao)
Thin, pleated dumplings filled with seasoned pork that hide a secret: a spoonful of hot savory broth that bursts out with the first bite. A Shanghai classic worth the folding practice.
Red-Braised Pork Belly (Hong Shao Rou)
Cubes of pork belly slow-braised in soy sauce, rock sugar and Shaoxing wine until the sauce turns deep mahogany and the meat is glossy, melt-in-the-mouth tender. A beloved home-style classic from Chinese kitchens, served over steamed rice.
Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken (Da Pan Ji)
A hearty, communal stew of chicken, potatoes and peppers simmered with cumin, star anise and dried chilies, piled onto a huge platter over chewy hand-pulled noodles that soak up every drop of sauce.
Dongpo Braised Pork (Dongpo Rou)
Square-cut pork belly simmered whole in Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and rock sugar until the skin turns glossy and the meat trembles at the touch of a spoon. A Hangzhou classic named after the poet who is said to have invented it.
Xi'an Braised Pork Sandwich (Rou Jia Mo)
Fall-apart pork belly, slow-braised in a fragrant mix of star anise, cinnamon and soy, chopped and piled into a crusty, flaky griddle-baked flatbread. Often called the Chinese hamburger, and every bit as satisfying.
Pan-Fried Dumplings (Guotie)
Juicy pork and cabbage dumplings, seared golden and crisp on one side and steamed tender on the other โ the home cook's version of China's favourite dumpling snack.
Sichuan Boiled Fish in Chili Oil (Shui Zhu Yu)
Silky fish fillets gently poached in a spiced broth, piled over crunchy vegetables and buried under toasted chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, then doused with smoking-hot oil at the table so the whole dish crackles and perfumes the room.
Fried Dough Sticks (Youtiao)
Golden, deep-fried dough sticks that puff up light and hollow inside, with a crisp shell and a faintly salty, savoury dough. Eaten hot off the oil, dunked into warm soy milk or rice porridge.
Fresh Soy Milk (Doujiang)
Dried soybeans are soaked, ground fresh with water, strained silky-smooth and simmered until the raw, grassy edge disappears, leaving a warm, nutty milk that's China's favourite breakfast drink. Pour it hot alongside crullers, or chill it for a cool, refreshing glass.
Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls (Tangyuan)
Soft, chewy rice-flour balls filled with a rich black sesame paste that turns molten and glossy once cooked, floating in a warm, lightly spiced ginger syrup. A beloved Chinese dessert eaten to celebrate family reunion.
Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup (Niรบrรฒu Miร n)
Beef shank slow-braised with star anise, cinnamon and spicy fermented bean paste until the broth turns deep and glossy, served over chewy wheat noodles with tangy pickled mustard greens.
Smacked Cucumber Salad (Pai Huang Gua)
Cucumbers smacked and torn into craggy chunks so they soak up a garlicky, vinegary chili oil dressing, served icy cold for a crunchy, refreshing start to any meal.
Vegetable Jiaozi (Chinese Dumplings)
Plump, tender dumplings filled with napa cabbage, shiitake, carrot, firm tofu and garlic chives, seasoned with ginger, soy and sesame. Boil or steam them and dip in black vinegar with chilli oil.
Steamed Pork Buns (Baozi)
Soft, fluffy yeast buns pleated around a juicy filling of pork, ginger, spring onion, soy and a little sesame oil, then steamed until pillowy. China's favourite breakfast and dim sum classic.
Hong Kong Egg Tarts (Dan Tat)
Crumbly, buttery shortcrust cases filled with a glossy, silky-smooth egg custard that's barely sweet. The famous dim sum and bakery treat of Hong Kong.
Hidden Veggie Fried Rice
Soft scrambled egg and tiny flecks of carrot, peas and cabbage folded through quick stir-fried rice, mild and gently savoury for little mouths. A good way to sneak extra vegetables onto a toddler's plate without a fuss.
Chicken and Rice Congee for Little Ones
A soft, silky Chinese rice porridge simmered low and slow with ginger, shredded chicken and sweet carrot, until it's spoon-soft and easy for small mouths to eat.
Shrimp Veggie Dumpling Dippers
Soft steamed mini dumplings packed with sweet shrimp and tiny flecks of carrot and cabbage, perfect for little hands to dip and nibble. A gentle, home-style take on Chinese dim sum shrimp dumplings.
Quick Tofu & Veggie Stir-Fry
Golden cubes of tofu and bright, soft-cooked vegetables in a light glossy sauce, ready in about ten minutes of actual cooking. A calcium- and fibre-rich family meal that little hands can pick up easily.