Chinese Cooking Recipes - A Secret Ingredient

Chinese Cooking Recipes - A Secret Ingredient
By Zane Minninger

Think back to a time you had really good Chinese food. Wouldn't you love to have that quality of Chinese food all the time at home?

Corn Starch

Chinese cooking recipes use an ingredient that many people don't realize. It's a white powder called corn starch. Readily available at any grocery store and it has many uses.

Usages

The biggest usage is its ability to thicken sauces. Many Chinese cooking recipes use it as an ingredient in their food to give it a slight sheen as well.

Where to Get It

Your grocery store will typically have it in the baking isle with other dry goods such as flour, corn meal and sugar. Corn starch can come in many different containers. Because they are just a dry starchy powder they usually come in boxes but recently have been coming in plastic containers.

Chinese Cooking Recipes and Starch Usage

Corn starch thickens when it reaches a boil. Most Chinese cooking recipes and stir fry in particular, are perfect for this method of saucing. Create the sauce in a container you can seal such as a jar before you start cooking and shake it well to mix it.

When you get close to the end of your cooking, shake the jar again to mix it up well and then pour in the pan. It should thicken quickly so keep the food moving to ensure even coverage and no burning. Turning down the heat will also help keep burning at bay.

How to Use Starch - the Trick is in the Ratio

Very thick sauce - 1 tablespoon of corn starch will thicken 6 tablespoons of liquid quickly and make it a very thick sauce.

Thick sauce - 1 tablespoon of corn starch will thicken 1/2 a cup of liquid nicely.

Thin sauce - 1 tablespoon of corn starch will make a thin sauce for 1 cup of liquid.

More Ideas

Now wouldn't be nice to be able to make all those Chinese cooking recipes at home? Take a minute or two and check out http://www.squidoo.com/chinese-cooking-recipes-the-best-places-for-recipes-of-chinese-cooking for a look at more recipes, how we get them and where we can find them.

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