15 Best Better-Than Takeout Recipes - Damn Delicious (2024)

FAQs

Is Orange Chicken authentic? ›

Distinguished with its orange-flavored chili sauce, it has spawned several 'copycat' recipes. While the orange chicken is one of the most famous Chinese dishes in America, it is a purely American invention, with no authentic Chinese resturants or restaurants in China serving this dish.

The ingredients used by Chinese chefs to cook dishes are fantastic. Herbs and spices included in Chinese cuisine make each dish taste like heaven. We also can't forget about all the delicious types of sauces that make the dishes mouth-watering.

Worst: General Tso's Chicken

One order clocks in at around 1,500 calories and 88 grams of fat, and it delivers more sodium than you should get in a day. Other fried dishes to watch out for: sesame, orange, and sweet and sour chicken.

Thicker, stickier sauces like sweet and sour and sesame are going to be very calorie-dense, so limit those as much as possible. Stir fry sauce, however, is largely made up of soy sauce, making it a much lower-calorie option. Speaking of soy sauce, if you are adding some to a dish, choose the lower-sodium option.

1. Kung Pao Chicken. There aren't many Chinese dishes that are more popular than Kung Pai Chicken. The classic dish originates from southwestern China, specifically Sichuan cuisine, and is associated with general Chinese food and cuisine.

Beef is a type of meat that is difficult to find in China, but the main reason you won't find this stir-fry dish in China is because there's no broccoli in China or at least the type of broccoli that is sold in America, instead, they use a leafy vegetable called gai ian.

Origins. Beef and broccoli was likely developed in the diaspora of Chinese immigrants in 19th century America. It became an established feature of American Chinese restaurants during the 1920s. By the 1950s, it had become ubiquitous and it is one of the most popular American Chinese dishes in the 21st century.

There is more emphasis on how to eat to balance yin and yang. High importance is placed on freshness and flavor of produce or food. A typical Chinese's meal usually consists of rice, soup and three to four side dishes. Dishes are made of seasonal vegetables, fresh seafood or bite-size portion of meat or poultry.

Many Chinese restaurants, like other types of restaurants, use sugar in their cooking. Sugar can be added to dishes to balance out salty or spicy flavors and to enhance the sweetness of the dish. However, the amount of sugar used in Chinese cooking can vary depending on the recipe and the individual cook.

What do they put in Chinese food to make it taste better? ›

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is a flavor enhancer that has been widely used for roughly 100 years ( 1 ). In addition to being naturally present in certain foods, it's a common food additive in Chinese recipes, canned vegetables and soups, and other processed goods.

Chinese cooks normally use soybean oil, vegetable oil, or peanut oil, all of which have a high smoke point. Peanut oil usually has a pleasant nutty flavor and is suitable not only for stir-frying but also for deep-frying. Canola oil, which has a high smoke point but a neutral flavor, is also a good choice.

Over-eating when you get a takeaway is common, so opt for a broth or soup starter while looking to steamed and stir-fried options for your main. Healthier options: Steamed/boiled rice, plain noodles, crab & sweetcorn soup, steamed dumplings, steamed fish, chicken chop suey, Szechuan prawns, vegetable stir-fry.

“Looking for foods that aren't breaded is a good start. And you can usually find lots of vegetables, like broccoli, carrots and sugar snap peas at Chinese takeout places, too.” Other dishes on the healthier side include: Moo goo gai pan, stir-fried lean chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts, broccoli and carrots.

It's not accurate to say definitively that all Indian foods are healthier than all Chinese foods. Both cuisines offer a wide variety of dishes, and their healthfulness depends on several factors: Specific dishes: Both cuisines have plenty of healthy and not-so-healthy options.