Chinese Recipes

Chinese weeknight cooking rewards technique more than exotic ingredients: a ten-minute cornstarch marinade (velveting) that keeps chicken tender, a screaming-hot wok that browns without deep-frying, and the pan-fry-then-steam method that gives dumplings lacy golden bottoms under tender store-bought wrappers. Honey-garlic chicken wings lacquer into a sticky caramelized shell, chicken fried rice beats the takeout box with high heat and day-old rice, and beef and broccoli lands velveted under a glossy garlic-ginger glaze. Add crispy-bottomed pork and chive dumplings folded by hand and a numbing-tingly kung pao chicken with roasted peanuts, and the whole range is covered: fold it, fry it, steam it, wok it.