Kwoklyn Wan - Chinese Takeout in 5: 80 of Your Favourite Dishes Using Only Five Ingredients

Publishing Director Sarah Lavelle

Assistant Editor Stacey Cleworth

Art Direction Emily Lapworth

Designer Gemma Hayden

Photographer Sam Folan

Food Stylist Katie Marshall

Props Stylist Agathe Gits

Head of Production Stephen Lang

Production Controller Nikolaus Ginelli

Published in 2021 by Quadrille an imprint of Hardie Grant Publishing

Quadrille

5254 Southwark Street

London SE1 1UN

quadrille.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders. The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Text Kwoklyn Wan 2021

Photography Sam Folan 2021

Design Quadrille 2021

eISBN 9781787137738

Raiding the store cupboard should became an international sport; its common practice in every household around the world with busy families and singletons alike getting home from a hard day and finding theres very little to eat in their cupboards and fridges.

My Chinese Takeout in 5 cookbook will do away with these sorts of kitchen casualties so that in no time at all youll be whipping up Chinese-inspired masterpieces at home with just a few simple ingredients.

Creating a delicious meal should never feel like a chore and at the end of a busy day, who really needs (or wants) to get stuck into hours of preparation and cooking, closely followed by a mountain of washing up. What better way to unwind than to lose yourself for a short time in the kitchen, safe in the knowledge that, yes, you will be eating something delicious but no, it wont take for ever to prepare and no, you dont need to do a marathan shop to get started. With just a few ingredients, you can serve up a flavoursome dinner quicker than you can place an order with your local takeaway!

As a youngster (and still now), my go-to snack is a quick bowl of ready in 5 ramen noodles, heartily drizzled in sweet chilli sauceso satisfyingly moreish and no faff. Sometimes Ill pimp them up with a poached egg on top or a couple of shredded fish sticks, depending on whats lurking in the fridge at the time; sometimes Ill go soupy, other times not.

Ramen is such a versatile noodle and so quick to prepare, the little dry bricks will sit happily in your cupboard until youre ready to cook and are high on my list of recommended quick-fix options.

I urge you to experiment in the kitchen. Absolutely try every dish to the letter (I promise you won't be disappointed) but do play with the recipes too let every page inspire you to try combining flavours, using the following recipes as a guide and then mixing them up in your own way. Cook to your own personal taste and remember, taste is key: sample your dished before you season and take a moment to consider what the dish needs before you go adding extra sald, pepper, sugar etc. If you're cooking with readymade sauce, it's important to remember that they will already contain a certain amount of salt, pepper and spices and you don't want to ruin your efforts by over seasoning at the last minute. Always taste, season, and taste again!

Whether youre a straight-up carnivore, vegetarian, pescatarian or flexitarian, this book offers something for everyone. Dont ever feel confined to just one category; if you fancy Satay Chicken Udon Noodles but dont eat meat, swap out the chicken for a veggie alternative. Maybe youve been eyeing up the Baked Mushrooms with a Five Spice Crust but dinner just simply isnt dinner without a little meat; in that case use the five spice crust on a chicken breast and bake awaythe world really is your oyster.

Its true that my kitchen cupboards are quite literally spilling with jars and cans of spices, sauces, dried herbs, oils and vinegars, but as a chef of many years, Im always looking at recipe development, not to mention the simple fact that I completely lack the ability to leave my local Chinese supermarket or even the world food aisle of one of the big supermarkets carrying just the items on my shopping list! With so much variety of ingredients available in dry and preserved form, I love to keep my supplies well replenished.

Having a vast array of ingredients is not the be-all and end-all of successful cooking though, but I have assumed that youll have plentiful supplies of just five essentials that I consider to be absolute must-haves sitting in your pantry. These are salt, ground white pepper, light soy sauce, oil (vegetable, groundnut, coconut) and sugar. These basics will be listed under a separate heading, From the store cupboard, in each recipe so after youve stocked up on your essentials, all youll need to consider are the main ingredients for each dish.

As with all cooking, better results will always be achieved if you start with the best ingredients you can lay your hands on, not just from the flavour aspect but also for our own personal health benefits of eating produce and meat products that have been raised/grown in a higher-welfare environment and not pumped full of nasties. Aim to pick up organic and free-range products where possible and consider using seasonal ingredients to make your food that much more flavoursome and nutritious, with the added bonus of being kinder on the wallet!

When shopping for specific Chinese ingredients, I would always encourage you to find and explore your local Asian supermarket. Youll find a huge variety of ingredients among the aisles, and all at reasonable prices.

Whether youre looking for a spot of kitchen therapy, planning for the week/month ahead, or have simply cooked enough to feed the street, pre-making sauces and storing them in the freezer is a great way to keep your fresh ingredients readily available for a quick grab-and-go meal. I like to gather the ingredients for a selection of sauces and then lock myself away in the kitchen with my favourite playlist as I chop, bubble and boil, before allowing the sauces to cool and then decanting into ice-cube trays for freezing. Once frozen, the cubes can be transferred to ziplock freezer bags and stored for up to 3 months not that theyll last that long! Oh, and dont forget to label your bags

I have included recipes for you to have a go at making your own sauces from scratch, as it really is hard to beat that totally fresh taste. But sometimes, when time is of the essence or you just dont want the faff, a generous dollop of a shop-bought marinade or sauce can be like a gift from the gods! You can buy all of the marinades and sauces that youll need to create each of the dishes in this book but, please remember, different spice mixes will be used by each different brand so flavours will vary.

Taste Not Waste, people! So, you made too much filling for your Char Siu Puffs? Stuff it into that leftover tortilla wrap with a handful of salad and, voil, tomorrows lunch is sorted! Failing that, pop it in a sealed tub in the fridge for up to 2 days or the freezer for up to 3 months, ready to haul out and cook into your next batch of egg-fried rice. Not all dishes will lend themselves to freezing but most (shellfish excluded) will be happy to sit in an airtight container in your fridge for a day, ready for second helpings. Please do make sure that everything is thoroughly reheated before eating.