The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Tasting notes
The DIY Chinese takeway
YOU MIGHT ARGUE that a Chinese-takeaway cookbook is wholly unnecessary. If you’ve already got a handy local joint that delivers cracking crispy wontons and decent kung po king prawns, then the very suggestion of making those dishes from scratch may entirely miss the point of a joyful takeaway – no prep, no struggles in the kitchen, minimal washing up. And yet, a new book on the subject by Kwoklyn Wan is strangely tempting, making me want to stuff our dog-eared menu back behind the house keys and contemplate homemade sweet and sour pork, chez moi.
Wan is the older brother of Gok, of fashion fame, and with their sister, Oilen, they grew up running in and out of their father’s Cantonese restaurant in Leicester. Kwoklyn spent his spare time in the kitchen peeling prawns and chopping vegetables, and went on to work full-time at the family-run business. Since then he has taught martial arts, run a truckers’ café and launched a Taiwanese bubble-tea shop – but he’s happiest when wielding a wok.
Many of his dishes in Chinese Takeaway Cookbook (Hardie Grant, £15), take five to 10 minutes to prepare and a similar time to cook – Wan’s argument being that it’s possible to knock up a bowl of shredded crispy chicken or Singapore rice noodles in the time it takes to phone in an order and wait for the doorbell. Freshly made and seasoned to your own taste, it’s arguably a cheaper and healthier route to dinner, too.