Nanjinger Kitchen

A staple in any Chinese kitchen, garlic has been used for over 5,000 years and is known to have medicinal purposes. Mainly used within stir fries, it is normally chopped or sliced finely to ensure taste is throughout the dish. A favour from which there is no escape, it...

Synonymous with Chinese cookery and a prevalent flavour in most savoury dishes, ginger has an unmistakable taste, which for me provides dishes with a slightly sour flavour, whilst giving subtle heat. I wanted to find a dish here where ginger is the main ingredient that brings my taste buds so...

So far, I have focused on traditional Chinese herbs and spices, but now I am going to cook using a key ingredient that features in nearly all Chinese cookery; the humble egg. Find it in noodles, rice, dumplings, soups, stir fries, curries, stews; the list could just go on...

Sichuan food is an extremely popular cuisine in China. Once you have tasted it, you understand why; the full whack of intense spices making your eyes and nose run leaves you craving more each time.  One particular spice that leaves your tongue feeling numb and tingly cannot be escaped. That,...

Time  to focus on an ingredient that even the most well-mannered diners struggle to eat without looking ridiculous; noodles. My first experience of the street staple is something I will always remember. To start, I was taken aback by all the choices of noodles; rice, wonton, egg, glass, vermicelli and...

I may be being naïve, but cumin is a spice that I never thought I would taste within Chinese cookery. I always associate it with Indian food. I could never make any form of Indian curry without the use of cumin seeds! Grinding your own seeds with a mortar...

Whenever I think of Italy, I think of pasta; England, I think of potatoes, and China, guess what, rice! I can’t believe I haven’t thought about doing a rice dish until now; it seemed so simple and yet so obvious. No matter what restaurant you go into, you always...

In the colder months I crave food that will warm me up. Naturally, I want lots and lots of chilli, so it is lucky I live in a country that will provide me with such dishes whenever I  want.  Chillies come in all different shapes and sizes but I want...

The first herb that springs to mind when I think about Asian cooking is coriander. You can roast the seeds to create an aromatic curry, or chop up some of the leaves and sprinkle them over the top of a stir fry to give your dish some vibrancy. Whatever...

I love how vegetables can take a leading role at mealtimes in China. Instead of being the supporting side dish, veggies can (and do) take centre stage. Accustomed to a “meat and two veg” style of meal, I recently stumbled upon a dish which contained a vegetable that managed...