Hi! Not sure if anyone can help me with this, but I am looking to get into authentic Chinese cooking. This probably goes without saying, but I am not Chinese by heritage or nationality. I have only had authentic Chinese food when it was prepared for me by friends I’ve known throughout the years who were from China. I like a good kung pao as much as the next guy, but I haven’t been able to find anything resembling what my friends have made for me at any restaurant in the United States. The flavors blew me away, but I’m not super familiar with the taste palette and frankly don’t know where to begin.
My Google searches are pulling up a lot of “skinny” and “kid-friendly” recipes for beef with broccoli and lo mein, and not a lot of stuff even remotely along the lines of what I’m trying to replicate. I’m not necessarily even trying to make any specific dishes; I really just want to be punched in the face with heat and flavor again. I’m also not sure which region I’m necessarily pulling from (if it helps, one of my friends was from near Hong Kong and the other was from an island off the coast of Shanghai), or what I’m even looking for. I really just need some basic direction because I am a sucker for spicy and rich food and I am willing to be inconvenienced in many ways if it means I can have it in my life.
Any English-language (or German-language, if necessary) resources or chefs/channels/food bloggers I should follow? I live in a major city and do have access to what seem like pretty good Asian grocery stores, although I’m admittedly not the best judge of that. Translated or recipes in grams/metric are more than fine. Any help I can get is deeply appreciated. Thanks!
Edit: so many good ideas! Thank you all so much!!
