What is Reddit's opinion of Chinese Heritage Cooking From My American Kitchen: Discover Authentic Flavors with Vibrant, Modern Recipes?

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HuLaTang is more of a breakfast for us, and mostly a street food not usually made at home. 油茶YouCha (fry fried flour soup) on the other hand is more home cooking friendly, although also a breakfast item.

With HeNan, we are very close with ShaanXi (Xi’An food) and ShanDong as we neighbor both providences and all of us likes flour heavy foods.

That said, there are things very regional to HeNan, they might be available elsewhere but they definitely have a regional twist with HeNan flavors.

If anyone in your household reads Chinese, this guy is a good resource, I think he’s from KaiFeng (based on his accent), HeNan, and although he cooks for restaurants his style is very close to home cooking for HeNan families. Magic Ingredients is also a good resource she’s from Xi’an so a lot of similar flavors, she used to have her videos in both English and Chinese audio but I think she’s only having them in Chinese now, but there are some instructions in English in the video. [http://maomaomom.com/](MaoMaoMom) is a good resource as well just for general Chinese food, I think she’s more southern or maybe ShangHainese but her recipes are pretty straight forward and I use her instant pot recipes a lot (because I’m lazy 😂) especially the one for pork belly!

In general, it is harder to find signature dishes from HeNan outside of the region, because one, HeNan regional foods use a lot of everyday things like there is a dish called fried eggs with XiangChun (Chinese toona) and when I was little my grandma just picked the XiangChun leaves by our house, I’ve never seen anyone selling in at the market 😂, and two, HeNan regional foods use lots of spices, the aforementioned HuLaTang uses more than 18 different spices, and HuLaTang spots in HeNan all have their own mixture of spices, some uses up to 108 spices. And, most homecooks with HeNan recipes do not have English subtitles and many only do their videos in local dialects so they reach a even smaller audience.

That said, personally I think there are two spices essential to HeNan food cooking, white pepper (powder form), and 13 spice (the one and only brand is called WangShouYi ShiSanXiang, it is a mixture of 13 different spices). And, Chinese black vinegar.

Couple things I think is easy enough to make,

水煎包 water fried Bao, this is very popular for breakfast, accompanied by a soup of some sort, you can also sub the beef for pork.

韭菜盒子 Chinese chives dumpling (pan fried), also a popular breakfast item enjoyed with a soup of some sort.

锅贴 Potstickers, this is the closest video I can find for LuoYang potstickers, the filling is not the important part, you can replace that with whatever you like, vegetarian fillings works as well, the important part of how to get that crispy crisp chip on the bottom! You also can fold the wrapper with a complete closure, or just use regular dumplings.

Egg pocket. I don’t have a specific recipe for this because I myself make this the lazy way (the dough takes too much work imo) I buy the green onion pancakes from Trader Joe’s (freezer section usually either next to the garlic nann or the Asian foods). Put the pan on medium high heat, (you don’t need a lot of oil because these already have oil/oil paste in the dough), beat an egg and set aside, when you’re heating up one side you’ll see the side on top bubble up, when that happens, poke a hole on the top side and pour in the egg, flip the side, pan fried until golden brown on both sides. You can also fold this in half after it’s done cooking and sandwich in some fried spam and veggies. This is an item that originated in HeNan but we’re seeing a lot of variations in recent years, and with mass production of premade foods this item has now been “combined” with another popular item called 手抓饼, the version we’re making here with the premade green onion pancakes are much closer to 手抓饼 than the original 鸡蛋灌饼, but to me it’s close enough and it’s delicious nonetheless!

大盘鸡 Big pan Chicken, this dish originated in XinJiang providence, but gained its popularity from HeNan, most recipes for this dish now have an influence with HeNan/SiChuan flavors. This chef is also a good resource, even if you don’t use her recipe she’s good for inspirations.

蒸菜 Steam Vegetables. There is not a set recipe for this, because everyone does it differently but it is also very easy. Because you can choose any vegetable you like, if it’s not a leafy you want to shred/cut into finger length pieces, think of a McDonald’s fry but 1/3 the size in width and thickness…shredding probably works best. Wash the veggies, dry them, then coat in flour (you can just do plain flour, or a mixture of corn flour, green bean flour, yam flour, etc + flour), add a splash of oil into the mix, then spread out onto a plate or directly onto the steamer if you have the steamer drawers layered with cheesecloth, steam on high for at least 5 minutes (timer starts after the water has boiled), my sweet time is normally 7 minutes you will need to adjust this based on the vegetables and your stove. (Leafy veggies require less time). Once they’re done transfer them into a big mixing bowl, use chopsticks or a fork to loosen them up. If you choose to freeze to eat at a later date, let them cool completely then bag, just know leafy veggies even after the coating and steaming does not reheat well. If you are eating it right away, mix 2:1 vinegar:soy sauce, crushed garlic, a dash of sugar, and a dash of sesame oil, pour this over the veggies and lightly mix it like a salad. You can also stir fry these with eggs or other items of choice. I recommend trying this with carrots first before trying other veggies. Eggplant works well too.

小酥肉 Crispy Pork, this is the closest I can find to HeNan style crispy pork. This is a dish very close to my heart, my grandma made this every year for Chinese New Year, this dish to me is what home taste like.

凉拌豆腐 Chilled Tofu, you need silken tofu for this, defiantly not firm tofu. Also if you want to make it easier just cut the tofu, pour the mixture of 2:1 soy sauce:vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp sesame oil. Optional 1-2 crushed garlic with the mixture, also optional to boil the tofu in hot water for a minute or two to ride the “bean smell/flavor”. Optional chili oil.

元宵 Sticky Rice Dumplings, this is for lantern festival. This is the traditional way to layer the rice dumplings in northern China, whereas southern China folds theirs. I personally think this is easier than folding them. And I do think this taste better than the folded version as well. Easy and fun, could be a family activity.

Last but not least, I want to recommend a cook book, Shirley is from BeiJing and I think her book gives a great explanation on lots of basic Chinese recipes, such as how to make dumpling dough, etc. Yes some recipes (like the dessert section) is not traditional (and maybe questionable lol) but overall it’s worth a read.

I hope these give you some ideas to start, feel free to dm me. I am happy to answer any other questions.

Chef Wang Gang is a good resource for SiChuan cuisine, professional chef, restaurant style, his stuff is in Chinese with English subs.

Magic Ingredients is mostly central China/Xi’An flavors, with pastry/cakes etc. She lives in North America so most her recipes will be western friendly ingredients wise. Family style. Some videos in English, most in Chinese with English subs.

Chef Shirley Chung has a book, she’s from BeiJing, China, so more northern/central flavors. Her book is a very good intro to both traditional and modern Chinese cooking, especially folks that aren’t Chinese. Mostly home style.