Most Chinese food can be cooked with everyday kitchen tools, but if you're interested in what the real cooks (i.e. Chinese grannies) use, here's a rundown of some essential Chinese cooking tools. It could be worth investing in some of these if you become a more serious Chinese food chef.
1. The Wok
Woks are made of a wide variety of materials, with the cheapest and most common being carbon steel. Cast iron woks also enjoy great popularity and many chefs seem to be split on which of the two are better.
What distinguishes woks are their distinct curved and concave shape. This creates a small area at the bottom of the pan which gets very hot and allows food to be very quickly seared by intense heat. The sloped sides also make it easier to toss food without spillage.
2. Rice Cooker
If you eat rice at least once a decade I would recommend buying a rice cooker. All the deliciousness and none of the horribleness of cooking rice on a stove. A lot of rice cookers come with all sorts of handy and/or unnecessary bells and whistles these days (case in point, my last rice cooker had five rice settings, could also make bread, and had programmable tunes to play when it finished cooking). Basic models can be had for less than $20. The Cuckoo pictured above is popular because it keeps rice fresh for several days and also sort of resembles a lovable robot sidekick.
3. Chinese Cleaver
The most useful and versatile type of knife out there. You will not look back, and all your other knives will quickly start to collect dust once you pick this up. Heavy enough to cut through bones, and wide enough to carry your chopped veggies from cutting board to wok.
4. Steamer
In Chinese food, bamboo or aluminum steamers are mostly used to steam dumplings and buns, fish, meats or vegetables. Traditional Chinese steamers are made of bamboo, and can be stacked on top of each other, with a lid at the top. The bottom of the baskets woven to let the steam pass through the whole stack. It is cooked on a wok, while the bottom of the wok is filled with the boiling water.
Of course, the list goes on, but four are tools I've found myself reaching for over and over again. Once you've assembled these, you have your basic toolkit for cooking Chinese food. If you haven't already, take a look at the grocery shopping checklist for a list of essential ingredients.
