Basic ingredients
The seasonings would be worthless, however, it there wasn’t anything you could put on them. Fortunately, there is a large amount of Chinese ingredients just waiting to be seasoned. These ingredients are usually broken down into two kinds: fresh and dried. Like the seasonings, there are a couple of ingredients that you will see over and over again, and, again, you need to experiment with each one to find out which ones you like.

Fresh Ingredients
Fresh ingredients are produce that need to be refrigerated or used right away so that they don’t spoil. Fresh ingredients are usually complements to some other kind of fresh meat. The most common fresh ingredients most people know about are simple vegetables (lettuce, cabbage, zucchini, etc.).

One of the most used fresh ingredient is bok choy. Bok choy is considered to be the Chinese variant of cabbage; in fact, its leaves look similar to a cabbages’ except bok choy has a crisp white stalk attached. Usually, both stalk and leaves are eaten either raw or cooked in some kind of stew.

Oriental eggplant is a common fresh ingredient that is nearly identical to its American counterpart. Considered a vegetable because of its lack of seeds, it is usually longer and more slender than the American kind.

Water chestnuts and bamboo shoots are both ingredients that are distinctly Chinese. Water chestnuts look similar to regular walnuts, except with a white shell. The inside flesh is similarly white and tastes great toasted or raw. Bamboo shoots are the shoots of a bamboo plant. They are sold in cans, and packed with water.

Other fresh ingredients include leek, lemon grass, squash, etc.

Dried ingredients
On the opposite of the fresh ingredients are dried ingredients. These ingredients are those that are sold completely dried. Usually, they will need to be soaked in water before using them. Most of them last a surprisingly long time in a stored, air-tight container.

Cloud ears (also called black fungus, tree ears, or jelly mushrooms) are very similar to tofu in that they have no flavor of its own. They will, instead, tend to soak up the flavor of whatever they’re cooked with. Cloud ears are often added to stir fried meals.

Lily buds are the unopened flowers of day lilies. They are yellow-gold in color, with a very earthy taste. Lily buds have been used in China as both a food and medicine for over two centuries. You will need to soak them in water for thirty minutes before using them in a meal.

Fresh Asian mushrooms of any variety are also frequently used in Chinese cooking. Black and oyster mushrooms are the most common type of mushrooms sold in grocery stores and are mild in flavor. Mushrooms are often used in stir fry cooking to add flavoring for a meal. Usually, you will NOT have to soak mushrooms in water.