Find Out How The Seven Samurai of Chinese Cooking Equipment Can Bring Your Cooking to Life

You've heard of the Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film that Hollywood remade as 'The Magnificent Seven'. Well, there are seven samurai in the Chinese kitchen. Seven essential pieces of Chinese cooking equipment that, while they may not save your village from evil invaders, will save your Chinese dishes and make you a minor hero in your own kitchen.

Yes, there are seven items of cooking equipment that professional Chinese chefs use to create their fabulous repertoire. They are:

* A wok
* A cleaver
* A frying strainer
* A broad-blade spatula
* Wooden chopsticks
* A bamboo steamer
* A ladle

Together this cooking equipment is enough to take the Chinese chef from chopping through cooking to dishing out. And it can do the same for you.

One of the reasons Chinese food has become one of the most popular cuisines in the world today is the versatility and all-round practicality of the wok. Traditionally made of cast iron, it's wide enough to cook a whole duck, a fresh fish or a chicken with ease - and still leave room for peppers, water chestnuts and onion. Purists will insist on authentic cast-iron, round-bottomed woks. But modern woks are generally flat-bottomed so they can stand in stability on a modern hob. And they are made of stainless or carbon steel so you can lift them. Imagine trying to lift a 36-centimetre cast iron wok holding a whole chicken plus lid. Just thinking about it is enough to make you break out in a sweat. The lighter versions are safer (you won't drop them, or strain your wrists) and easier to clean (maybe Yul Bryner could spin a wok round in the washing-up bowl, but personally, I'd be huffing, puffing and splashing to get a cast-iron wok clean).

It's best to go for a stainless steel, 36-centimetre diameter wok with one or two wooden handles. This is large enough for most family meals, safe to handle and easy to keep clean.

The wok is great piece of cooking equipment for stir frying food at high temperatures. This is good for three reasons:

1. You don't need to use much cooking oil. The wok's rounded bottom means that at thin layer of hot oil is enough to prevent your ingredients from sticking to the walls of the pan.

2. It won't take you long to cook your food. Forget the microwave oven. This is a great way to cook raw - not processed - food fast. And add an astounding array of flavours.

3. Because it's so fast, all the nutrients remain in the food. That means cooking with a wok is healthy - especially if you use it to cook vegetables. It's easy to create dishes of delicious, crunchy vegetables.

To chop food, the Chinese use a cleaver. These are available in different weights and sizes, but a mid-sized stainless steel cleaver is the most sensible addition to the average family's cooking equipment. The beauty of using is cleaver is in the way you can chop your vegetables and scoop them into the wok in one flowing motion. But remember to either clean your cleaver if you switch from chopping vegetables to meat, or switch cleavers.

Used for deep-frying foods, the best frying strainers are made from wire mesh. Choose a strainer with long bamboo handles which won't conduct heat so you don't need to wear oven gloves to handle it. This is a versatile piece of cooking equipment. Not only is it useful for deep frying in the wok, but it's great for fishing out noodles and pasta out of a large pot of boiling water so you don't have to use a strainer. A frying strainer really is must-have cooking equipment, and for the price you really can't go wrong.

Your next essential piece of Chinese cooking equipment is the spatula. A stainless steel spatula of generous breadth will move your stir fry around and ensure even cooking. It has a long shaft to keep your hands away from hot, spitting oil, and its scooping action is perfect for stirring food and serving it directly from the wok.

Another kitchen tool for stirring food in the wok is a pair of wooden chopsticks. The best chopsticks are crafted from hardwood which is such a poor conductor that they never become to hot to handle. Although they require skill to use, there's nothing that feels quite as authentic as stirring, serving and eating with a decent pair of Chinese chopsticks.

Bamboo steamers are usually made up of three shallow drums, with a bamboo mésh in the bottom, that can be laid on top of each other. You usually place them over water boiling in a wok, but they can also be used to serve food. This is what a recent Amazon reviewer wrote:

"Bamboo steamers cook much more easily than the standard metal mesh kind; the clearance from the water is higher, more air is trapped , improving the steaming efficacy, and the size (and multi-tier stacking) means you can cook virtually anything. They are essentially idiot-proof; no matter how little attention you pay, you really aren't going to have a kitchen disaster. They produce very healthy food (at least in terms of the cooking process) - no oil at all! Food is kept soft and moist, preferable to baking, and they are energy efficient (relative to ovens, or even pan-cooking). And finally, bamboo is a renewable crop, so these are environmentally friendly!"

Number seven on our list of essential items of Chinese cooking equipment is the ladle. The best ones are made of bamboo which doesn't make a nails-on-chalkboard screech when you move it against the wok. It is perfect for boiling and frying seafood and vegetables in the wok, allowing you to quickly turn the food over and take it out as soon as it's done.

As you many have realised by now, Chinese food is all about cooking raw food quickly and evenly so it's still fresh and crunchy when you serve it. Not only does Chinese cooking equipment preserve the flavour of the food, it holds on to all the goodness too. The magnificent seven Chinese kitchen tools will equip you with everything you need to make perfect and authentic Chinese food.