Recipes – Towards China

Make a kitchen project of it

Challenging

Stretch, pleat and wrap. Allow the resting time, and enjoy learning a new skill.

Challenging12 hr 35 min

Aromatic crispy duck

Steaming makes duck legs tender before a short fry crisps their surface. It is a two-stage project, finished with pancakes, cucumber and spring onion.

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Challenging2 hr 5 min

Baked lamb bao buns

These lamb buns bake rather than steam.

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Challenging1 hr 20 min

Black-sesame tang yuan

These glutinous-rice dumplings hide a sweet black-sesame filling. The dough is soft and delicate, so a secure seal matters more than a perfectly round shape.

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Challenging6 hr 50 min

Cantonese turnip cake

Despite the English name, Cantonese turnip cake uses daikon radish. Steam the savoury mixture first, then cool and slice it for a golden pan-fried crust.

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Challenging39 hr 30 min

Cantonese-style baked mooncakes

A thin golden pastry wraps lotus-seed paste and salted egg yolk in these baked mooncakes.

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Challenging2 hr 5 min

Char siu steamed pork buns

Sweet barbecue-pork filling sits inside a soft steamed bun.

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Challenging2 hr 5 min

Cheung fun rice-noodle rolls

A thin rice-flour batter steams into sheets that you roll while warm.

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Challenging2 hr 40 min

Chicken potstickers with a crisp skirt

A thin flour-and-starch liquid cooks into a lace-like skirt beneath these chicken dumplings.

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Challenging13 hr 15 min

Crisp Chinese spring rolls

These filled spring rolls use the source’s air-fryer option.

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Challenging1 hr

Crisp sesame balls with red-bean filling

A sesame coat surrounds a chewy rice-flour shell and sweet red-bean centre. Start frying gently so the balls can expand before the seeds turn golden.

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Challenging2 hr 5 min

Cumin lamb with hand-torn noodles

Small pieces torn from rested dough become chewy noodles for cumin lamb.

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Challenging13 hr 25 min

Eight-treasure sticky rice

Dried fruit and nuts make a pattern underneath this steamed sticky-rice pudding.

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Every swap explains what changes. Some specialist ingredients are worth finding: plain flour cannot do the job of glutinous rice, and chilli sauce cannot recreate fermented bean paste.