Chinese food is a delicious way to expand your personal recipe book, particularly if you love to use simple, fresh ingredients with short cooking time. These top ten dishes are famous all over the world, and are must-haves in your collection of Chinese recipes.

Fried Rice - A popular item in Chinese restaurants, fried rice is the ultimate Chinese food, and can be one of the most flexible in your cookbook because you can use leftover rice and ingredients to make it. Of course, you can use fresh ingredients but it’s recommended to use rice that has been kept in the fridge overnight for best results. Ingredients usually involved in making fried rice are eggs, spring onions, diced meat of either beef, chicken or pork, ham, prawns and vegetables such as bean sprouts, peas, celery, corn and carrots. There are many types of fried rice but the more famous ones are the Yong Chow and Fukien fried rice.

Kung Pao Chicken - Kung Pao chicken or Kung Po chicken is a Chinese dish from Szechuan cuisine and is considered to be a delicacy. The recipe for this savory dish commonly calls for diced chicken that is pre-marinated and quickly stir-fried with unsalted roasted peanuts, red bell peppers, sherry or rice wine, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chili peppers. Alternatively, you can use shrimp, scallops, beef or pork in place of the chicken.

Moo Shu Pork - This is a dish of northern Chinese origin and a favorite of many. Ingredients in a Mushu pork recipe usually involve green cabbage, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, bean sprouts, scallions, scrambled eggs and day lily buds. Bell peppers, snow pea pods, celery, onions, Shiitake mushrooms and bok choy are sometimes used. The vegetables are cut into long and thin strips before cooking, with the exception for bean sprouts and day lily buds. Fried Mushu pork is then wrapped in moo shu pancakes that is brushed with hoisin sauce and eaten by hand. Moo shu pancakes are thin wrappers made of flour that is easily available in supermarkets and steamed right before eating.

General Tso’s Chicken - General Tso’s chicken is a Hunan cuisine that tastes spicy and sweet and very popular in Chinese restaurants in Canada and America where it’s often marked as a “chef’s specialty”. General Tso’s Chicken recipe commonly calls for battered chicken deep-fried and marinated with ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine or sherry, sugar, scallions, and hot chili peppers.

Spring Rolls - Spring rolls make fabulous snacks and appetizers. They are similar to egg rolls, but are slightly different to its cousin. Springs rolls are have less filling than egg rolls, is smaller in size and its skin is thinner. To make a spring roll, minced meat and thinly cut strips of vegetables are rolled and sealed in a square or circular rice paper. It is then deep fried till crispy and golden brown. Serve this crowd pleaser piping hot.

Chinese Dumplings - Chinese dumplings are a fabulous addition to your home cooked foods, and can be made simply and quickly using just a couple of ingredients. The key to making an excellent dumpling is to ensure that all of your ingredients are finely minced, so that each of the dumplings are steamed in the same amount of time.

Beef and Broccoli - The key to cooking up a delicious Beef and Broccoli dish at home is to make an excellent sauce made up of oyster sauce, light soy sauce, thick soy sauce and cornstarch solution. Marinade the beef before stir frying with sugar, rice vinegar, cornstarch solution, soy sauce and sugar.

Sweet and Sour Pork - This savory-sweet highly popular Chinese dish is of Cantonese origin. It is a good dish to prepare when you are planning on having guests, who will be wildly impressed with your cooking skill. As with other Chinese food recipes, the key to making a great Sweet and Sour Pork dish is in the sauce made of sugar, ketchup, white vinegar, and soy sauce. Its ingredients include pork, pineapple, bell pepper and onion cut into bite size pieces.

Chow Mein - In American Chinese cuisine, Chow Mein is a stir-fried dish consisting of noodles, meat such usually chicken, shrimp, beef and pork, cabbage and other vegetables.

Chop Suey - Chop suey or “za sui” or “shap sui” literally means ‘mixed pieces’ is an American-Chinese dish usually made up of leftover meats and vegetables stir fried quickly in a sauce thickened with starch. It is a great dish when you need to use up the last of yesterday’s chicken or pork roast and can incorporate meats of any kind such as fish, chicken, shrimp, pork or beef and various vegetables from celery to bean sprouts and cabbage. Chop Suey is often eaten with rice.