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Chinese cuisine, and as a matter of fact, chinese cooking recipes, symbolizes comfort and tradition. Chinese food seems made for ritual. The diversity in regional styles brings to light an interesting fact: it is not the specific ingredients that give Chinese cooking recipes its distinct character.

No doubt factors such as scarcity of arable land have influenced the Chinese diet. But throughout the centuries the Chinese have also shown a willingness to adopt foreign foods (the peanut, for example).

What makes a chinese cooking recipe truly unique is the balancing of ingredients.

A proper Chinese cooking recipe always contains an equal division of fan, grains and starches, and t'sai, meat and vegetables.

The two are never mixed together, allowing each to retain its own unique characteristics. The balance between fan and t'sai fits in with the Chinese belief in the importance of balance and harmony in every aspect of life.

Perhaps this is the reason we find Chinese cooking recipes so comforting. Chinese try to vary the meat and vegetables in a dish, so that there is an interesting variety of flavors, textures, and colors.

The Chinese believe it is important to find balance and harmony in every aspect of life, including food.

We will begin our travel with a basic ingredient, perhaps, the most famous chinese cooking recipe: Rice.

Boiling rice is harder than it looks. Often the finished product is sticky or "gluey." Here's a sure-fire way to produce rice that's light and fluffy.

Here's How: Rinse the rice in water to get rid of excess starch, for every cup of rice, add 1 1/2 cups water, bring the rice to boil, uncovered, at medium heat, when boiling, turn the heat down to medium low, place the lid on the pot, keeping it tilted to allow steam to escape. When you can see holes or "craters" in the rice, put the lid on tight. Turn the heat to low. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Fluff up rice and serve.

While you don't absolutely need one, a wok is the one piece of cooking equipment you may want to purchase before you start preparing chinese cooking recipes.
While it's nice to own one, you don't need a cleaver to cook Chinese food.

After rice, the second place in the chinese cooking recipes ranking is, doubtless, vegetables: Here is a basic how-to:

Wash green, leafy vegetables ahead of time. This gives them more time to drain so they will not be too wet when you stir-fry. Place all the cut vegetables on a tray or cooking sheet. That way, you won't forget anything. Just be careful not to mix them up, as cooking times will vary among vegetables.

When stir-frying vegetables, cook the toughest and thickest vegetables for a longer period than the softer, leafy vegetables. Vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, and cabbage need to be cooked longer than bok choy, which in turn is cooked longer than snow peas or bean sprouts.

If you are uncertain in which order to cook vegetables, simply stir-fry them separately. Never overcook. It´s the main secret in all Chinese cooking recipes.
For stir-frying or deep-frying, use firm or extra-firm tofu. Firm tofu will keep its shape and not fall apart in the wok.

Drain the tofu before using, as this allows it to absorb the other flavors in the dish.

And now, we will talk about meat. Third in the Chinese cooking recipes ranking

Always marinate fresh meat. If a marinade calls for cornstarch, add it last. It will act as a binder. Always cut beef across the grain. This helps make it more tender.

Cut the meat into uniform pieces so that it will cook more evenly.

When cooking meat or poultry, make sure that the wok is very hot before adding the food.

Now, common tips for help you:

If preparing stir-fried meat and vegetables, stir-fry the meat first and set it aside. Usually you will return it to the wok with a sauce during the final stages of cooking.

When adding oil for stir-frying, drizzle the oil down the sides of the wok.

When deep-frying, to tell if the oil is hot enough, simply stick a chopstick in the wok. When the oil sizzles all around it, you can begin adding the food.

Always use fresh ginger, not powdered.

If desired, use sugar as a substitute for MSG (Monosodium Glutamate).

The formula for mixing cornstarch and water is 1 to 2 or 1 to 4: for example, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water.

Don't use more cornstarch than called for in the recipe. For best results when cooking rice, use long grain rice.

When making fried rice, use cold cooked rice, preferably at least one day old.

And finally: Many people always ask "Why doesn't the Chinese food prepared at home taste like restaurant food?"

It's a challenge - restaurant kitchens have specially built gas stoves that can reach the very high temperatures needed for stir-frying, not to mention several cooks!

Fortunately, none of these difficulties are insurmountable. It is possible for home cooked Chinese dishes to come extremely close to reproducing the taste and flavor of Chinese restaurant food.