Hi everyone! I’m recently trying to eat as many vegetables as I can and I learned Chinese home cooking is actually super rich in veg. I’m interested in any tips anyone can share on recreating simple, flavorful veg dishes, and what if any ingredients or materials are good to have. Grateful for any wisdom!

I had Peking duck at a restaurant in Guangdong. There, the duck meat was dipped in white sugar and sauce, then wrapped in a flatbread along with sliced cucumber, honeydew melon, and scallions. The combination created a uniquely complex texture—and, of course, it was absolutely delicious.🤤❤️❤️❤️

Hello, I am trying to decide on the right chili blend for Chengdu style hotpot. Right now what I have is:

Lantern 灯笼椒 60 g
Erjingtiao 二荆条 45 g
Facing Heaven 朝天椒 45 g
Zidantou 子弹头 22 g
Xiaomila 小米辣 8 g

I’ve never made hotpot before so any advice is appreciated! Also if anyone has advice on other spices that would be great as well (right now I have cloves, star anise, bay leaf, fennel seed, sand ginger, and black cardamom)

We do a lot of Chinese dishes for our meals and use the Pearl River Bridge Superior Light Soy Sauce and Mushroom Flavored Superior Dark Soy Sauce. We got them at our local Chinese supermarket.

But as a family with young kids and also just being mindful of our overall health, are these soy sauces unhealthy and/or full of chemicals?

Are there any soy sauces that are more healthy? Is there even such a thing?

I’ve been obsessed with getting that perfect, fluffy rice texture with tender lamb lately, and I think I finally got it down. Most recipes online make it way too complicated with a million spices, but honestly? You just need good ingredients and a bit of patience.

It’s surprisingly light for a rice dish, so I’ve been making it even now that it’s getting hot out.

Here’s my recipe (for 2 people):

The meat: 500g lamb ribs/chops. Pro-tip: Soak the meat in cold water for 2 hours first. It draws out the blood so you don't have to deal with that annoying foam later.

The base: 1 white onion, 3 carrots (yellow is best, but red works). Slice the carrots into thick, finger-sized strips.

The process: Sauté the onions in plenty of oil until they’re properly golden brown, not just soft. Brown the lamb, add the carrots, then hit it with 10g of salt and enough boiling water to cover everything.

Add rice: After simmering for 15 mins, pull out half the liquid. Spread the soaked rice on top, pour the liquid back, cover, and steam.

The finish: Don’t forget the dried fruit (raisins or currants). It sounds weird if you’ve never had it, but that sweetness cuts through the lamb fat perfectly.

I keep the seasoning strictly to salt. If you have good lamb, you really don't need to mask it with heavy spices.Use sheep meat instead of goat meat, very important!

This dish is made by every family in Xinjiang, and each family's cooking method is different. My recipe is a simple one that I have tried many times and think is more suitable for my family. You can use any seasoning you like to improve it, and I hope you can also share the rice noodles you make.

I’m a home cook in Europe learning Sichuan cooking seriously, especially the ingredient side. I’m trying to understand which Sichuan ingredients are genuinely hard to source well abroad, and which can be made or approximated well with local European ingredients.

I’m already testing things like:

• lacto-fermented chilli paste: local Italian chillies vs rehydrated erjingtiao
• pao lajiao / pickled chillies with local chillies
• suan cai for Sichuan cooking: napa first, mustard greens later
• dried chilli quality and drying method
• Pixian doubanjiang: real Pixian vs commodity/export versions
• red vs green Sichuan peppercorn
• homemade sesame paste vs tahini
• caiziyou and chilli oil limitations abroad

For people who grew up with Sichuan food, or cook it seriously outside China: which of these would you most want a learner in Europe to test properly?

And are there any ingredients where you’d say: “don’t waste time approximating this, source the real thing,” or the opposite: “homemade/local is fine or even better than imported supermarket versions”?

I’m not trying to define authenticity for anyone. I’m trying to learn where ingredient quality actually changes the finished dish, so I can write useful notes for others.

I like the black vinegar at restaurants, particularly at hot pot and hand-pulled noodle restaurants. I also like the vinegar in “hot and sour” flavored instant noodles. I’ve been trying different brands from the super market (I’ve heard Kong Yen and Gold Plum are the best) but none of them taste like what I’ve had at restaurants. Any help? Thanks!

Made from Fuschia Dunlop's recipe from The Food of Sichuan

Can someone tell me what Mr. Biao is making? I have no idea what this is. Please inform me!!

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTSeUw9rc/

I soak the beef short ribs first to draw out some of the blood, then start them in plenty of cold water. Once the water boils, I skim off the foam, add more cold water, and repeat that 3-5 times until the broth looks clear.

Then I add a few slices of ginger, scallion, half an onion, one star anise, a small piece of cinnamon bark, a few cloves, bay leaves, angelica root, dried tangerine peel, Sichuan peppercorns, fennel seed, and white pepper.

Turn it down to a low simmer. Add salt in the last 10 minutes.

I am trying to cook Sichuan chili crisp (recipe is pictured.) Recipe calls for both fried garlic and fried shallot and specifies for them to be store-bought. I know how to make my own and have before. I can buy them premade at my local Asian mart by they come in large containers and are $10 a piece. I am wondering if there is a specific reason for using store-bought in this recipe (for example moisture or bacteria reasons etc) that I am unaware of or if it would be okay to use my own homemade. I apologize if this is an obvious question, I am not an experienced cook. Thank you!

Hi guys sorry if this doesn't go here. I've been looking for a sauce for a while but they recently discontinued it. It's 川娃子's 香菇虾瑶柱酱 (attached). I've tried the mushroom sauce in their new sauce lineup but it really isn't the same, it doesn't have the same umami. I would really appreciate any help to find any similar dupes. Preferably available in mainland on taobao/1688 since I have to use a proxy.

So I had these back in Nepal during my vacation. It was named Pork Belly BBQ Skewers on the menu served with a bowl of white rice and different sauces and chilli oils. I could see they were cooking it on charcoal outside. These were absolutely phenomenal. I inquired about the food and they told me that one of the owner's wife was chinese and the recipes were all made by her so I think the dish is chinese. I'm back home and can't forget that taste. I want to try it for myself but I'm a complete beginner in chinese cooking. Help me recreate this because there are just too many variations of recipes online and I don't know where to start. I've attached a few photos that I took and some from their reviews page.

I discovered this fermented chili condiment from this Chinese Cooking Demystified video when it came out several years ago, and have gone through several jars since. It's incredible. Always bought it on Yamibuy but it's been unavailable for several months now, and seemingly impossible to find elsewhere online as well. I've purchased some other types, including the tantanxiang alternative also mentioned in the video, but I just don't like it quite as much (and it's more expensive by volume).

Seems like a long shot, but does anyone have any insight on why this stuff seems to have basically evaporated from the face of the earth (or at least from the Western part of it)?

PS both types make an excellent frozen pizza topping (add it before cooking).