(audience claps) - A lot of people think you can only get great Chinese f.. in a Chinese restaurant.

That's not true.

With the right ingredients and a few simple techniques, you can recreate all your favorite Chinese restaurant specialty, right in your own kitchen.

The first thing that I want to show you is one of the most popular Chinese beef dish from Northern part of China.

Genghis Khan Mongolian beef.

Here, I have some beef, it's already marinated with soy sauce, corn starch, tiny bit of wine, and also white pepper, okay?

And I've chopped some garlic, and I'm gonna show you, we're gonna get some red bell pepper, because a good Chinese restaurant never show any of this white part.

So I kind of trimmed this, like th.. Now, this particular Mongolian beef dish is named after the... (knife clatters) Name call the 12th century Mongol c.. Genghis Khan, who like things wild and spicy.

(knife chops) Set it aside and put it, ah!

Right here!

(audience chuckles) (knife chops) And you want to put it like there, ah!

You put it, ah, right there.

When it's all nice and done, you should marinate your beef for approximately anywhere from half an hour to two hours.

If you have time, do it overnight.

Then, we hit up your nice wok, and then, you get ready a tiny bit of cooking oil and you'll get ready with this tiny bit of oil.

Not much, but one to two teaspoon.

Okay, look at that.

Marvelous, hot.

Put a tiny bit of garlic, chopped garlic, (wok sizzles) dried chili, a lot of them.

Stir, wow, look at them, toss them around.

Get the flavor out.

Then you put the beef, marinated.

Right in here, stir.

Toss it.

Don't just sit there and stare at your feet.

Don't go like that.

That is not stir fry.

Toss, stir, stare fry.

There's a major difference.

As I always remind people, there's major difference between stir fry and stare fry.

Stare fry will burn.

Oh, look at that.

And then, you put the rest of the stuff .. A lot of green onion and red bell pepper.

Look at that.

This is all we need.

We don't need this anymore.

(bowls clink) Continue to stir.

Can you hear the sizzling sound, the excitement?

Wow.

Continue the stir until you're absolutely exhausted.

And you'll stop.

Then you add the final touch, a tiny bit about chili oil, just a few drop.

This is enough, but you like hot, more.

You want to smoke your hair, ah, even more!

Tiny bit of sesame seed oil.

Just a few drop of sesame seed oil.

And hoisin sauce, wow.

H, O, I, S, I, N. It's from fermented soybean, with garlic and everything.

Put a tiny bit of soy sauce.

Oh, look at that.

Look at this, it's all nice and ready.

You don't even have to thicken it up and you won't make more sauce.

All you have to do is to, oh, look at that.

While I'm stir frying this, I am gonna quickly, I am gonna quickly deep fry the cellophane noodle because we're gonna use this to put in the bottom of a dish.

Make sure the oil is hot enough.

Test.

Hot!

Put it in.

(audience laughs) Oh, please come up.

I hope it is coming up.

Slowly, but surely, look at that.

Okay.

When it's come up, you take it out.

Look at that.

When it come up, you take it out.

Don't do it too long.

Then you can transfer this, put it right in the middle.

Right here.

(utensils clatter) Oh, look at that, wow.

And then, you transfer this beef right here.

Very easy to do.

Genghis Khan Mongolian beef.

That's all you have-- (audience claps) - Now, I'm gonna set this aside because I'm gonna show you to do an other wonderful dish, okay?

And I want to show you how fast and how easy it is to clean up your nonstick frying pan, if you have one.

All you have to do is clean it out like that and you are ready to cook again, okay?

Now, everybody know.

Have you ever wonder how one Chinese cook can prepare all the dishes at the same time?

Chinese chef often have to juggle two sizzling hot wok at the same time.

I want to show you how I do it.

I'm gonna prepare two dishes simultaneously and finish everything at the same time.

And I call this wok side by side, okay?

(audience laughs) Now, when this is hot enough, this is hot enough.

We're gonna get ready.

I'm actually showing you how to do two dishes.

One is this most popular restaurant dish called General Tso's chicken.

They normally deep fry this chicken after they marinade, but I want to make it a healthier version.

I'm just stir fry this.

In this particular dish, I have to marinate the chicken, 9 to 12 ounces.

I have green onion, ginger, dried chili pepper, some peanut because Chinese restaurant.

They use a lot of peanut, aside from using a lot of walnut, they use a lot of peanut too.

This is the peanut from Texas, Texas peanut.

And then also, we use a tiny bit of garlic.

We're gonna mince garlic and ginger and get ready, look at that.

Cut, cut, cut.

Minced garlic and ginger.

Minced garlic, look at this.

One, done!

Minced ginger.

Done, done, done!

You got to say, done done done!

Otherwise, it won't get done.

(audience laughs) And then when it's all ready, I'm gonna set this aside and get ready, because you know what?

I'm gonna get ready an other ingred..

It's called sautéed shrimp with chili tomato sauce.

Right here, I have all these ingredient.

Look at that.

I have shrimp, I have tomato sauce with a tiny bit of hoisin sauce mixed together, garlic, ginger, and some chopped or diced onion, and some chili pepper.

And I want to show you, I want everybody pay absolute attention.

We have shrimp, we have chicken.

We're gonna do it, okay?

We're gonna do it side by side.

Three, two, first, add oil.

(audience laughs) Before you add oil, you cannot say three, two, one.

Okay, this is getting more and more exciting.

Do it all together.

Now, everybody pay attention, okay?

Garlic, ginger.

Garlic.

First is ginger, second is garlic.

And then, this wok, we're gonna do chicken.

(wok sizzles) Toss, toss.

And then this wok, we're gonna do shrimp, which is already marinated with a kind of salt and pepper and corn starch.

And then you come back here, (audience laughs) and then you come back here, and then you come, and you go, and you come again, and don't forget this.

And then, you'll put green onion, okay?

dried chili pepper and a touch of extra chili pepper.

Very exciting.

Oh, look at that.

Look at that.

And then this one, onion, dried ch.. And then, we're gonna put a tiny bit of wine.

Look at that, look at this.

Wow, amazing!

Wow!

(audience laughs) Oh, amazing!

Ah, no wonder, my eyebrows, there's nothing left.

And then, when this is nice and done, this is nice and done.

We are going to add a tiny bit of tomato sauce.

This is how fast this dish is.

This whole dish is basically done.

And then in the meantime, I put a tiny bit of sesame seed oil, a tiny bit of got a vinegar for the General Tso's chicken, tiny bit of sugar, and a tiny bit of soy sauce.

And then, I'm gonna use a tiny bit of chicken broth and a tiny bit of soy sauce again, dark soy this time, giving nice, rich color.

And then, I am going to thicken this up with this corn starch solution.

Look at that.

Look at this.

This is so easy to do.

Everybody can do it, and it's combined sweet and sourness, and, oh, all the things together.

Look at that.

And it's done, done, done.

And the whole dish is done.

Cook at the same time, done at the same time.

Ha!

When this is done, we'll put it ov.. Oh, look at that.

(audience claps) I want to show you...

I am getting so excited.

I have never, never get to be so fast.

Here, you notice that in order to make this exciting, I'm gonna cut up a teeny tiny bit of basil.

You can use Thai basil, julienne.

Look at that.

This way, I can use it too as a garnish, okay?

When the chicken is done, we'll put this right here.

Look at how beautiful, without deep frying.

And then, for the shrimp.

We'll put it right here.

And then, in order to make it more interesting, I am going to sprinkle some Thai basil.

And before you do anything, I'm gonna add some peanut.

A lot of people don't realize that this country is one of the major producer of peanut.

All you have to do is roast it, dry roast it.

And Texas is the second largest peanut producing state in the US.

A lot of people don't realize that.. and peanut butter are packed with a wonderful protein.

In fact, each year in this country, we eat enough peanut butter and have enough to cover the entire Grand Canyon.

And peanut is also a great source of protein, fiber, and B vitamins.

So, also very low in saturated fat.

So now, we have General Tso's chicken with peanut from Texas and also, we have sautéed shrimp with chili tomato sauce.

(audience claps) You see, I'm still overwhelmed by the two dishes and all the flames that come out.

Fortunately, this is still around.

Not all restaurant dishes are so quick and easy to prepare.

In fact, for one dish that the kitchen needs about 24 hours notice, like the Peking duck.

So let us take a look at how they serve this particular duck at the famous, famous King Heen Restaurant in Hong Kong.

(classy music) Peking is famous for two things, Peking man, which is now all bones, and Peking duck, which is a lot more delicious.

Some say that Peking duck is all skin.

Well, not quite.

But you need to carve the skin neatly because it is an important part of the dish.

By the way, the gloves are optional.

The proper way to serve Peking duck is to serve it inside a freshly steamed Mandarin pancake, and a little hoisin sauce and some green onion.

And we end up with the best roast duck sandwich in the world!

And now, comes the best part.

In China, Peking duck is actually three dishes in one.

You have the duck sandwich, a stir fry dish with duck meat, and a soup make from the duck carcass.

Nothing is ever wasted.

(audience claps) - In Hong Kong, you might pay about 35 to $40 US f..

But it is still a great bargain, you know why?

'Cause it's three dishes in one, it's a whole meal.

They serve the crispy skin with tiny bit of meat with a moist, tender, wonderful, thin Mandarin pancake.

And then, they stir fry a dish with the remaining meat.

And of course, using the carcass to make a soup.

It's three in one.

The next thing I want to show you is something exciting.

Now, this is the most famous Chinese restaurant specialty of all time, wontons.

You have probably order fry wonton and wonton soup, but I'm gonna mix something a little bit different.

The Chinese answer to Italian ravioli.

Here, I'm gonna show you how easy it is.

Normally when you go out to have wonton, most of the time, the meat is normally ground pork, okay?

But here is the seafood wonton.

Look at all the ingredient I have.

I have freshwater chestnut, green onion.

Whoa, beautiful tiger prawn, fresh, frozen.

And also we have firm white fish, or you can use filet, you can use all kind of fish or whatever you like.

Mince them all together, chopped up with some cilantro.

I have this wonderful filling, okay?

And when I get this ready, the next thing I want to show you is how to fold the wonton.

There are lot of ways to fold wonton, not all the techniques are created equal.

Also, I want to show you a couple of one that I like to do.

Here, this is the typical wonton wrapper.

They're normally squares, squares like this, okay?

Here I use a little spoon, get some water right here, scoop out approximately half a teaspoon.

If you are not very hungry, half a teaspoon.

And then, all you have to do is put a tiny bit of water on the other side, both of these sides.

Then you fold it into a triangle, like that.

Look at that.

And then you pick this up and put a little water at the tip of one end.

And this one, the most popular way to fold wonton.

Look at that, slow motion, just like I'm practicing my Tai Chi.

Slow motion.

And I'm gonna put this very slowly from here to, ah!

Right here.

And then I put this, I'll show you another one.

Very easy to do.

This one, I'm gonna do it, this is for the diet conscious, okay?

A little bit of meat, fold it in, like that.

Instead of go all the way, just like that, and still, do the same thing.

This type of style is very good for deep fried wonton, because when you deep fry, there's a lot of dough.

Look and see the difference.

This is the diet conscious, this is the you don't care.

And if you have not eaten wonton for four and a half years, you use this much, one of these will be enough for you to have three meals in the next three days.

This is three times as much, okay?

Once again, fold this in.

Now this time, I want to show you another technique.

You don't have to fold it like that, you can just simply fold it this way.

Just like a hat, you fold it this way.

Look at that.

So, you can have all kind of ways.

I'll show you another way.

Ah, this is how they do pot sticker in a variety of Chinese dumpling.

This is the round one, and I put this right here, right in the middle, so you have all kind of way to do it.

That's the way, in the meantime, you know what I'm doing?

I'm boiling some water to cook my wonton.

Then we can also get up the wok and get the stir fry going.

Look at that, this is a very unique way.

I want everybody pay attention, okay?

Look at that.

You fold like this, and you close .. And then you pleat this, just like a hargow-sieu mai pot sticker, you pleat this, and you pleat this, and you pleat this, and you pleat it.

You continue to pleat, you continue to pleat, you continue to pleat, you continue until you have nothing to pleat, you stop.

And then you have this like a little pot sticker, looks like this.

So that means you can do anything ..

Different style, different way.

When it's all nice and done, we're gonna set this aside and get everything ready.

I have some extra one wonton here, extra wonton here.

And we are gonna boil this right over here.

First, we bring this to a big boil, and I use my chopstick again to push this in.

Look at that, make sure it's boiling okay?

If it's not boiling, it is no good.

Pour it in, stir, stir the whole thing.

Make sure, you know what?

You can actually do this wonton ahead of time, and you just freeze them individually.

That means you can do everything in the last minute, okay?

Stir it a little bit and bring this to a boil.

While you bring this to boil, you get this wok ready.

You're gonna stir fry some of these vegetable because we are going to get all this ready.

Here, I have some charlotte, I have some baby corn, snow pea, carrot, and straw mushroom.

Wonderful straw mushroom, sometime you can buy them fresh, but most of the time, you buy it in the can.

And then you go.

(knife slices) Done!

You notice that I look at what I do.

I look at here, I look at there, I look at there, ah, it's done.

When it's all nice and done, you're gonna cook this.

Now, I want to show you how to use a chopstick to stir fry.

A lot of people don't realize, chopstick is not only used in the dining table, but also as a cooking chopstick.

When this is nice and ready, you put all these vegetable right here.

Look at that.

(wok sizzles) Stir fry.

Look at this, isn't it interesting?

Season it with soy sauce, with chicken broth, with sesame seed oil.

A lot of people probably don't realize, chopstick have a lot of history.

Confucius once said, "An honorable man allows no knife in his table."

As a vegetarian, he believe that (indistinct), anything's metal or sharp has no place in the dining room, not even metal chopstick.

When this is nice and done, we're gonna pull the wonton right out of here.

Seafood wonton, look at that.

Isn't that marvelous?

And then I put it right into this stir fry.

Stir fry wonton.

And then, I thicken this with a kind of a cornstarch.

And then, you have ready some wonderful dish.

Stir.

This is whole thing is done, and you serve this right here.

It is so colorful, this seafood wonton ravioli don't even have to be garnished.

Look at a very unique dish being created right in front of your very own eye.

(audience claps) After a big meal like this, you need a light desert.

Well, we have heard from Genghis Khan and General Tso.

And how about word from General Custard?

Here, let me show you a light steamed custard with candy ginger.

This is what we will have.

I have a ginger-infused water, sweetened with sugar, and I also add about three or four egg white, beaten, and also nonfat milk, right in this wonderful container.

Then I put this right here, filled it up, filled up a very, very famous dish in many Cantonese-style restaurant.

And this is actually one of my favorite when I go out to eat for desserts.

Very easy to do, once you do that, you can sprinkle and julienne some candy ginger.

(knife chops) Okay, and then, you can sprinkle this inside here, sprinkle the candy ginger.

And you're gonna steam this, put this right in here in this steamer and steam it, but we always have something ready for you.

So we are gonna take this out from here, and it's nice and hot.

We're gonna take this off.

(indistinctly whispers) (audience laughs) Hot!

And then of course, you can garnish with some extra can.. and tiny bit of mint.

Now, you know what?

Custard (audience clapping drowns out speaker) Light and refreshing with no cholesterol, very low cholesterol, steamed custard with candy ginger.

Look at that, beautiful.

Now that you have seen a little of the behind the scene technique that go into making your favorite Chinese restaurant dishes, hope you will be inspired to put them on the menu at the finest restaurant in town, house of you.

Till next time, be your own best chef, and remember, if Yan can cook, so can you.

“Goodbye!” (##!)

(audience claps)