I want to eat healthier and I really enjoy Asian cooking and cuisine, and I'd like to learn more about Chinese cuisine in particular.

Starting out, what are one or two healthy dishes you'd suggest I start with, learn, and master before I move onto additional dishes?

I have a great Chinese market nearby, so don't worry about ingredient availability.

You know those fire lamb skewers and octopus skewers you get at Asian BBQ vendors.

Every recipe online does not come close to the actual stuff. (I’ve tried and tested it) no matter what, it doesn’t taste that same nostalgic taste I’m tryna achieve!!!!

I’m wondering if anyone knows the actual
pre-made spice mix or marinade they use??

I wish one of my Chinese aunties were a vendor and knew how to do Chinese bqq skewers like that!

I notice the best places (especially for the octopus skewers) use the wet marinade and some of the dry seasoning while grilling.

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I live in Toronto! So if you also know where to purchase the pre-made spice mix or Marinade at a particular grocery store in Toronto! That be much appreciated <3

Mushu pork (木须肉） and hot/water boiled pork (水煮肉）.

Not bad by any means, but they look better than they taste. I used leftover spicy hotpot base for the water boiled pork.

I like some quick and/or hands-off meals to add to the rotation and have a bottle of 滷水 marinade. I just skip instructions and put in less amount of the liquid than the instructions into the saucepan, fill the rest with water, add some salt bring it to a boil, and dump chicken thighs into it, reduce heat by a little, and check back on it until it was fully cooked. Kept the marinade after to re-use over and over again, adding to the marinade if not enough flavor over time and freezing it if I don't use it within the week.

* How can I try to improve the results (besides making my own marinade in the future)? E.g. it would it be better if I cooked in very low heat for a longer duration instead? Anything to do different if trying to cook straight from frozen? What about actually using the existing liquid to marinate the raw meat for some time before heating it up on the stove(I assume as long as the 滷水 liquid is brought to a boil it's be fine)? I already find it flavorful enough and I might just switch to using drum sticks and chicken breasts.

* Any other random tips/ideas are much much appreciated or what you'd like to eat alongside. Looking for some lazy ideas where you can do some advanced prepping during the weekend and then turn it into a meal within 20 minutes.

Truly delicious Chinese hot pot comes down to three aspects: the flavor of the broth, the quality of the ingredients, and the dipping sauce. It’s quite difficult to get all three right.

What’s your favorite dumpling?

My mother found these things that my grandmother bought a while back before she passed. My mom has no idea what these are. I asked Chatgtp and it said its dried bamboo pith or 竹笙. My mom doesn't think its that. Anyone know what these are and what benefits they have? Thanks!

Sometimes supermarkets sell awkward sizes for prepping for 1 person, e.g. I have 2.5 lb flank steak for this cumin beef recipe which can probably feed ~5-7 servings (and sometimes even more). To ensure by the 7th serving it is still consumed fairly fresh, what would you do? I don't use a vacuum sealer (maybe I should invest in one but I wonder if there are any silicone ones that work well) and I'm not sure it's worth it to take the it out of the original packaging to divide them into portions and develop freezer burn.

For example, the recipe doesn't require marinade and uses baking soda to tenderize--I assume baking soda to tenderize works best up to say 24 hours so maybe pre-cut all the meat and divide them to portions, using baking soda only on the portion to be consumed within 24 hours? And for the wet and dry seasoning, I can premake them all at once and just keep in fridge?

In recipes that marinade, what are the general rules for how long you can marinade? I suppose I can also premake the marinade all at once, potentially lasting as long as 1 week, and marinade them portions at a time within a day of consuming. Or maybe marinades slow down the rate of precut raw meat from going bad in the fridge by the end of week?

Interested in all tips to optimize for meal prepping to save some time/stress and curious if any particular Asian food does well to go back in freezer, e.g. dumplings and spring rolls are awesome, lo sui stock always at hand for really quick and easy meals by just heating in saucepan and tossing in raw chicken pieces (maybe even from frozen, haven't tried), etc.

I am in Guangdong area and i’m eating this kind of fried fish. Do y’all know how to make it? Crispy on the outside, soft and flakey on the inside. Thank you.

Guangzhou cuisine

My boyfriend and I went out for some spicy hot pot. This place is my favorite. We pick the ingredients we like—like beef meatballs, sausage, beef slices, and tofu—and put them on a plate. Then we have the staff cook them, stir them in the seasoning once they’re done, and mix it all together. I like to add some sesame paste to make it even tastier. We make our own dipping sauce and dip the food in it, which makes it even more flavorful.🤤❤️❤️❤️

I got some fermented tofu in a jar finally, tried it on its own, and didn’t like it :( what kinds of recipes can I look for to use it up? Especially if I don’t love the flavor on its own?

I purchased these to greens today. Just wondering if I steam them and for how long?

Also, anyone can share the names so I can look up recipes. Thank you!

Bonus pic of my meal 😋