Recipes – Page 4 – Towards China

A good place to begin

Easy

Short ingredient lists, simple moves and plenty of confidence.

Easy12 hr 25 min

Marbled tea eggs

Cracking cooked eggshells lets tea and spices draw a marbled pattern on the egg underneath.

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Easy45 min

Plain rice congee

Congee is rice cooked with plenty of water until the grains soften into porridge.

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Easy8 hr 23 min

Red-bean ice lollies

Cooked adzuki beans give these creamy ice lollies their colour and little soft bean pieces. The mixture thickens on the hob before going into moulds.

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Easy20 min

Shanghai spring-onion oil noodles

A shiny tangle of noodles, golden spring onions and a sauce with a surprisingly short shopping list.

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Easy55 min

Sichuan-style lettuce wraps

Little gem leaves turn a savoury minced filling into crunchy handheld wraps.

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Easy12 min

Silken tofu with a savoury dressing

Soft tofu needs very little work: a warm garlic and spring-onion dressing supplies the flavour.

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Easy20 min

Silky Chinese steamed eggs

Just eggs and water become a soft savoury custard. Gentle steam does the clever part.

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Easy16 min

Soy-sauce fried rice

Light soy sauce seasons this rice while dark soy sauce gives it a deeper colour.

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Easy12 min

Spinach salad with ginger dressing

A quick blanch softens spinach before a sharp ginger dressing goes on.

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Easy20 min

Steamed aubergine salad

Steaming makes aubergine soft enough to soak up a garlic dressing.

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Easy18 min

Steamed enoki with garlic

Enoki mushrooms cook in little bundles under a garlicky sauce.

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Easy55 min

Steamed pears with rock sugar

A whole pear becomes its own little dessert bowl when you steam it with sugar and goji berries.

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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.