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Year of the Dragon: Eat In With 5 Chinese Takeout-Inspired Dishes

LilSugar — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:14:46 PST

Celebrate Chinese New Year by eating in! Though Asian takeout has become a beloved staple in many households, it's fun to get the whole family cooking a different cuisine. With Lunar New Year celebrations kicking off tomorrow, we asked kiddie chef extraordinaire Catherine McCord, founder of Weelicious and mother of two, to share some of her healthful recipes fit for a year of the dragon fete. Check out Catherine's five options that you can serve up on a plate or in a box, but don't forget the chopsticks!

Let's Dish: What's Your Favorite Chinese Course?

Susannah Chen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 13:19:15 PDT

I've got Chinese food on the brain after a lengthy interview with the Cooking Channel personality Ching He Huang about essential Chinese ingredients and kitchen tools. As a Chinese-American myself, I'm a bit biased, but I do believe that Chinese food is one of the world's most colorful and versatile cuisines.

When it comes to Chinese cooking, I'm well studied in just about everything, from stir-fries, sesame chicken, and Sichuan hot pot. One of my favorite dishes is Hong Kong-style chow mein: thin, wavy noodles browned in oil until golden and crispy at the edges, then topped with a hoisin sauce and wok-fried snow peas, carrots, chicken or pork, and mushrooms. What do you reach for when you're craving Chinese?

Source: Flickr User www.bluewaikiki.com

5 Essential Ingredients For Cooking Chinese at Home

Susannah Chen — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:29:17 PDT

When it comes to Chinese cuisine, don't be scared to try cooking it at home - you don't need much in your pantry to experiment with China's flavors. I asked Ching-He Huang, host of the Cooking Channel's Chinese Food Made Easy and the forthcoming Easy Chinese: San Francisco, to rattle off some of the ingredients she couldn't do without in her kitchen. Along with tea and rice - fundamentals of the Far East cuisine - she also mentioned the following food items. See what they are when you read on.

Savory Sight: Kung Pao Chicken

Yum Community — Tue, 03 May 2011 03:14:27 PDT

There's nothing more delicious than a meal made by a loved one. Here, Morrow Clark shares a dinner her husband recently prepared for her.
My Husband made delicious and beautiful dinner Homemade Kung Pao Chicken. It tasted incredible.

Do you have mouth-watering photos of food? Upload them to the YumSugar Community!

Do You Know Dim Sum?

Susannah Chen — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 03:34:29 PST

This week, billions of people will be ringing in the upcoming year of the rabbit by enjoying an intimate Chinese New Year meal with family and friends. Even if you aren't destined to be one of them, you can still celebrate the Lunar New Year by honoring a piece of culinary tradition in the Chinese heritage: dim sum. What do you know about the storied culinary tradition and subsection of Chinese food called dim sum? Bust your ~~chops~~ chopsticks on this quiz to find out.

Source: Flickr User faungg

Take the Quiz

Diet Dilemma: Dining Out and Ordering Healthy

FitSugar — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:50:43 PDT

San Francisco certainly seems like foodie central, and sometimes dining out seems like a competitive sport here in the Bay Area. But restaurant dining doesn't need to be fraught with difficulty if you're watching calories, fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Here are some simple tips from The Mayo Clinic Diet to follow next time you find yourself searching a menu for healthy fare. Knowing what to look for and what to avoid will help you "savor the exotic" without worrying about your waistline or heart health.

Must-Read: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

YumSugar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:00:15 PDT

If you've ever cracked open a fortune cookie - and I bet you have - then see this book in your future. Far more satisfying than those sugary slips of paper, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, by New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee, explores the American obsession with Chinese food, from delightful trivia to dark realities.

Considering the US has more Chinese restaurants than McDonalds, Burger Kings, and Wendy's combined, it makes sense that the cuisine comes with a stir-fry of great stories. Lee begins her journey with the tale of how the Powerball lottery was once almost brought down by a set of lucky numbers printed in dozens of fortune cookies. She follows with fun facts about the origins of the cookies, as well as of chop suey and General Tso's chicken. But this book isn't as lighthearted as you might think

The Most Unhealthy Chinese Restaurant Foods: Part Two

FitSugar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:00:00 PDT

I already told you about a few unhealthy Chinese food menu items that are heavy hitters in terms of calories, fat, and sodium and you may have been thrilled that your favorite dish was not on there. Unfortunately, there's more.

In case you missed it, Newsweek talked to Jayne Hurley and Bonnie Liebman , authors of Chinese Restaurant Food: Wok Carefully. They shared their take on the most unhealthy Chinese food menu items. I wanted to make sure you don't miss the highlights:

Lemon chicken: A plate of lemon chicken contains 1,400 calories, two-thirds of a day's fat, and no vegetables. "It's like eating three McDonald's McChicken sandwiches and a 32-ounce Coke," Hurley says.
General Tso's chicken: General Tso's chicken features breaded, deep-fried chicken chunks that are then soaked in sauce; Hurley and Liebman found that one plate has about 1,300 calories and half a day's worth of saturated fat.
Barbecued spare ribs: These "appetizers" pack a punch - one plate of spare ribs carries two-thirds of a day's worth of saturated fat and 600 calories. That's the same amount of calories as in two pork chops, Hurley says. Dumplings, steamed or pan-fried, are much more health friendly, she says.

So eat Chinese food at your own risk, I know I will be - sometimes a girl's just gotta have her General Tso's.

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The Most Unhealthy Restaurant Chinese Foods: Part One

FitSugar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:30:00 PDT

The other day, out of the blue, I was having a bit of a craving for Chinese food. This is unusual for me, but I was thinking of indulging myself. Then I read a nutritional dissection of the cuisine in Newsweek by Jayne Hurley and Bonnie Liebman, the authors of Chinese Restaurant Food: Wok Carefully. Their take on the most unhealthy Chinese food menu items certainly had me rethinking my decision to indulge – or at least stick to steamed meals with sauces on the side. Here are highlights:

Fried rice and lo mein: "Those dishes are basically three quarters of a day's calories, and you're just getting four or five cups of white rice or white noodles with oil and a sprinkling of vegetables," Hurley says. They're especially dangerous because they're often served alongside people's main orders, she says, and deliver "not much more than a smattering of vegetables or protein from the meat."
Chow fun: This dish is made of wider rice noodles and might taste more healthy than lo mein, but it's not. "The noodles are thicker, but they're going to do the same damage to your belly and blood pressure as the lo mein," Hurley says.
Crispy (orange) beef: Many meat-based menu items simply offer "hunks of fried meat," Hurley says. "What you're getting is three quarters of a pound of deep-fried meat, garnished with vegetables," she says. The same goes for sweet and sour pork.

So there you have it. This is not to say that you shouldn’t eat Chinese food, because sometimes you need some take-out and a fortune cookie. Just try steer clear of the high-calorie, high-sodium, high-fat items like those listed above.

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Have Your Cake and Fried Rice Too

GiggleSugar — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:07:41 PST

I think the rule is: the curvier the font, the better the Chinese food.

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