Deh-Ta Hsiung is an acknowledged expert on Chinese food and cookery - besides being the author of several best-selling books and a food and wine consultant for Chinese restaurants and food manufacturers, he is also a tutor of renown. You can find him online at http://chinese-at-table.com.
For meat you can use pork, beef, chicken liver or kidney; for vegetable you can use spinach, Chinese leaves, green cabbage, mange-touts peas, lettuce or watercress. [...]
The very first item a Chinese cook would prepare when starting work in the kitchen each morning is a good stock which is used for cooking throughout the day when required, and is the basis for soup making as well. [...]
A simple-to-prepare dish from Peking which, when served side by side with 'agitated' prawns, gives an interesting contrast in texture and colour as well as flavour. [...]
If you cook this dish in a fairly large quantity it can be served at a number of meals, or the leftovers can be used in other dishes such as Yangchow fried rice, or stir-fried ten varieties. [...]