Of course, one of the things that I love about Luandun (乱炖 luàn dùn) is, once you know how to make it, it’s very easy to create your own version of this dish depending on your cooking whims and the ingredients that are available in your household.

Origins of Luandun

One of the most popular northeastern cities, where this dish originates, is Harbin. It’s one of the major cities in the northeast region, and I always have very fond memories of the city’s winter because of the mesmerizing Ice and Snow Festival. The whole city turns into a magical world when the sun goes down and the lights are on. They have truly embraced the winter spirit and created their own ice kingdom to welcome travellers from all over the world. Besides the incredible winter scenery, local Luandun restaurants are another reason people visit the city every year during the festive seasons. Here are a few restaurant suggestions: 

1. Shanhetun Iron Pan Stew (Min’an Branch) – 山河屯铁锅炖（民安店）

Address: Min’an Street No. 29, Daoli District, Harbin, Heilongjiang

Phone: +86 451 5882 6688

2. Gao Jia Xiao Yuan (Xiangfang Branch) – 高家小院（香坊店）

Address: Xiangfu Road No.67, Xiangfang District, Harbin, Heilongjiang

Phone: +86 451 51035799

3. Bai Yi Da Di Guo (Qunli Branch) – 百一大地锅（群力店）

Address: No.518, Diwudadao Street, Qunli, Harbin, Heilongjiang

Phone: +86 451-51501891

How to Make Authentic Luandun

Luandun can be made in a variety of ways. Some might say it’s enough to cobble together a bunch of ingredients along with some glass noodles. The recipe we created for you in this article is chicken-based and to make it, you’ll need the ingredients in the photo below.

Now, let’s dive into the recipe!

Authentic Northeast Chinese Luandun (Chicken Stew) Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Main, StewCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

30

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make a delicious authentic Northeast Chinese Luandun chicken stew that’s hearty and healthy.

Ingredients

• 500g chicken thigh fillet

• 4 x small-medium potatoes (300g)

• 4 x medium tomatoes

• 1 x bell pepper

• 1 x medium or large onion

• 5 x cloves garlic

• 6 pieces of Chinese leaf

• 200g stringless green beans

• A hand full of sweet potato glass noodles

• 1 x tbsp bean paste

• 1 x tbsp tomato paste (optional)

• 1 x tsp sugar

• ¼ cumin powder

• A pinch of ground white pepper

• 2 x tsp light soy sauce

• Salt to taste

Directions

• Soak the glass noodles in warm water for at least 30 minutes or until they are soft. Chop 3 tomatoes, onions, and garlic into small pieces for the soup base. Put them in a bowl and set them aside.
• Cut the Chinese leaf into thin slices and the green beans, and potatoes into small chunks.
• Cut the bell pepper into small pieces and slice the remaining tomato into thin pieces. This is mostly for garnishing. Place them on a plate and set them aside.
• Cut your chicken thigh fillets into big chunks.
• Let’s make the soup base first. Heat up 1 tsp of vegetable oil in your saucepan. Add the soup base ingredients in with two shakes of salt and let it cook until the ingredients are soft. Add 2.5 cups of cold water and bring to a boil. Take a hand blender to blend it until it is smooth (careful not to burn yourself).
• Prepare a big enough pan and add 1 tsp of vegetable oil with 1 tbsp of bean paste. Gently heat it up. Add your chicken thighs in and stir fry them until all are nicely browned.
• Add your green beans and potatoes in and keep stir-frying for 4 -5 minutes. Give the vegetables a nice oil and bean paste coat.
• Add the soup in. It should cover all the ingredients. Add 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp light soy sauce, ¼ tsp cumin powder, and a pinch of ground white pepper. You can also add 1 tbsp tomato paste if you have some, but it’s optional. Stir well.
• Add the softened glass noodles into the mix. If you bought the broad glass noodles, make sure they are completely soaked and soft before adding them to the stew.
• Put on the lid and let it stew for 20 minutes on medium-low heat. Monitor during this process to make sure your food doesn’t dry up and burn.
• Open the lid and gently lay on the tomato slices and small pieces of bell pepper as well as your sliced Chinese leaf. Put the lid on for a further 5 minutes.
• Garnish with some spring onion and white sesame seeds. Serve.
• I like to eat this with freshly cooked rice and cold kimchi. The taste is absolutely heavenly! We hope you enjoy it! 您慢用(nín màn yòng).

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! Now you know how to make an authentic Northeast Chinese Luandun stew. Give it a go and let us know how it went by leaving us a comment below. If you do make this recipe, be sure to share it on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Authentic Northeast Chinese Luandun (Chicken Stew) Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

How to Make Authentic Chinese Beef Tomato Stew

To make this delicious dish enjoyed by people across China, you’ll need the ingredients in the photo below.

Now, on to the recipe!

Authentic Chinese Beef Tomato Stew Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: MainCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

2

hours 

Cooking time

1

hour 

This authentic Chinese recipe shows you how to make a delicious beef tomato stew that’s perfect for the cold winter season.

Ingredients

• Beef shin 500g

• Beef tomato x 4-5

• Pure cane sugar 20g

• Star anise x 1

• Cinnamon stick x ½

• Bay leaf x 3

• Ginger x 3 slices

• Soybean (yellow bean) paste 1tbsp

Directions

• Same as in many Asian meat stew recipes, soaking meat in cold unseasoned water ahead of time is the first step of making this stew. The reason I was given by my mom (also the reason you maybe find online) is to get rid of the excessive blood in the meat. Some may argue, that this step is unnecessary and it is potentially an old holdover from past times where meat processing was different. For me, I still believe that this process will give the broth a cleaner taste, it might just be in my head, but I don’t usually skip this step when I cook Chinese meat broth. For the beef shin, which I purchased from a local supermarket, I have soaked them in cold unseasoned water for 2 hours. At first, you could see the water turning pink after a while.
• Change 2-3 times during soaking your beef, towards the end, you should be able to notice, the meat has visibly become “whiter”.
• While we are soaking the beef shin, we can start preparing the beef tomatoes. Give them a light cross cut on top. Make sure you cut through the skin.
• Bring a pot of water to a boil and gently drop your tomatoes in, let them sit for a good 30 seconds.
• Take them out and rinse under cold water. Peel their skin. I always find this process quite calming for some reason.
• Cut them into small chunks, approximately 2cmx2cm.
• Heat up a cooking pot, and add ½ tbsp of vegetable oil, wait for it to heat up. Add 1 star anise, ½ cinnamon stick, 3 pieces of bay leaves, and 3 slices of ginger in the oil quickly stir fry.
• After the smell of the spices is released, add your beef shin in the pot and 1 tbsp of Soybean (yellow bean) paste, stir fry until meat is browned nicely.
• Add tomatoes to the pot with ¼ tsp of salt, mix well, put the lid on, and let it cook on medium-high heat until tomatoes are soft like this.
• Add 20g pure cane sugar to the stew. Change to low heat and let it cook until tomato juice could cover your meat in the cooking pot.
• Take the spices out and put the stew in your pressure cooker. I set mine to stew mode, which is 30 minutes.
• Garnish it any way you want. There you have it! A thick, tasty, and healthy Chinese Beef Tomato Stew. A perfect dinner choice with your loved ones. Try it and let us know your thoughts! 请慢用（qǐng màn yòng) Enjoy!

Try It Yourself!

And now you know how to make this authentic Chinese stew. Give it a try and let us know how it goes in the comments below. We’re also around if you have any questions about this and other recipes on the site.

If you make this delicious dish, we’d love to check it out! Post it on Instagram and tag us @linschinesekitchen.

The post Chinese Beef Tomato Stew Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.

One of the most common radishes we have in China is the white radish, which is also called “mooli” or “daikon radish”. One of the reasons it is popular amongst Chinese people is because of its various health benefits. Luckily in the UK, there are quite a few places where I ca purchase mooli. The one I mostly go to is Taj.

In this article, we will walk you through how to make a nutritious and light soup with fishballs, mooli, and Chinese glass noodles. The fishballs I used for my soup are handmade out of salmon and carrots. If you are interested in taking up the challenge, you can find our handmade fishball recipe here. Alternatively, you could purchase ready-made fishballs from your local Chinese store.

To make the soup, you’ll need the ingredients in this photo.

Now, on to our authentic Chinese fishball mooli glass noodle soup recipe!

Authentic Chinese Fishball Mooli Glass Noodle Recipe

Recipe by LinCourse: Noodles, SoupCuisine: ChineseDifficulty: Medium

Servings

3

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

This recipe shows you how to make authentic Chinese fishball mooli glass noodle soup, a light and healthy dish that’s good for most occasions.

Ingredients

• 10-15 fishballs

• A handful of dried Chinse vermicelli (glass noodles)

• ½ Mooli

• 1 Spring onion (garnish)

• Salt to taste

• ¼ tsp white pepper powder

• Coriander (garnish + flavor)

Directions

• Take a handful of dried Chinese vermicelli (glass noodles), soak them in lukewarm water until soft.
• Peel half of your white radish (mooli).
• Cut them into thin slices (around 2mm thick).
• Then cut them into shreds.
• Warm-up a cooking pot, add ½ tsp of vegetable oil, wait until the oil is heated. Put the shredded mooli in and stir fry for a couple of minutes, you should see the mooli shreds are softening up.
• Add 2 cups of water into the cooking pot. Bring it to a boil. (Add the fishballs in if you have purchased them from your local Chinese store and they are frozen)
• Add your softened glass noodles in, let it boil until the vermicelli becomes transparent. Do not cover during the process, the bad smell of the white radish will evaporate. By this time, your radish shred should look a bit jelly-like.
• Add your fishballs in if they are freshly made as they don’t need to be thoroughly cooked. Add salt to your taste and ¼ tsp of white pepper powder.
• Let it boil for a further minute. Place in a big bowl, garnish with spring onion and some coriander. Serve. I like to have my soup with extra ground white pepper and Chinese dark rice vinegar. Hope you could enjoy this hearty and healthy soup as much as I do. 您慢用（nín màn yòng) ！
  

Notes

Try It Yourself!

And there you have it! This is how you can make authentic Chinese fishball mooli glass noodles. Give our recipe a try and let us know how it goes in the comments below. We’re also happy to answer any questions you may have about this and other recipes on our site. Be sure to also give us a follow on Instagram! We post more photos of delicious Chinese food regularly.

The post Authentic Chinese Fishball Mooli Glass Noodle Soup Recipe appeared first on Lin's Chinese Kitchen.