Chinese food is a delicious way to expand your personal cookbook, especially if you love to use simple, fresh ingredients with short cooking time. These top ten dishes are favorites all over the world, and are must-haves in your collection of Chinese food recipes.

Fried Rice - A staple in Chinese restaurants, fried rice is the ultimate Chinese food, and can be one of the most flexible in your cookbook because you can use leftover ingredients and rice to make it. Of course, you can use fresh ingredients but it’s best to use rice that has been kept in the fridge overnight for best results. Ingredients usually used in fried rice are eggs, spring onions, diced meat of either chicken, pork or beef, ham, prawns and vegetables such as celery, peas, carrots, bean sprouts and corn. There are many types of fried rice but the more well-known ones are the Yangchow and Fujian fried rice.

Kung Pao Chicken - Kung Pao chicken or Kung Po chicken is a Chinese dish from Sichuan cuisine and is considered to be a delicacy. The recipe for this mouth watering dish commonly calls for diced chicken that is pre-marinated and briefly stir-fried with unsalted roasted peanuts, red bell peppers, rice wine or sherry, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and chili peppers. Alternatively, you can use scallops, prawn, pork or beef in place of the chicken.

Moo Shu Pork - This is a dish of northern Chinese origin and a favorite of many. Ingredients in a Moo shu pork recipe usually involve green cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, scrambled eggs, carrots, bean sprouts, day lily buds and scallions. Bell peppers, snow pea pods, celery, onions, Shiitake mushrooms and bok choy are occasionally used. The vegetables are cut into long and thin strips before cooking, with the exception for day lily buds and bean sprouts. Fried Moo shu pork is then wrapped in moo shu pancakes that is brushed with hoisin sauce and eaten by hand. Moo shu pancakes are thin wrappers made of flour that is easily available in supermarkets and steamed right before eating.

General Tso’s Chicken - General Tso's chicken is a Hunan cuisine that tastes spicy and sweet and highly popular in Chinese restaurants in Canada and America where it’s often listed as a "chef’s specialty". General Tso's Chicken recipe commonly calls for battered chicken deep-fried and marinated with ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, Shaoxing wine or sherry, sugar, scallions, and hot chili peppers.

Egg Rolls - Egg rolls are one of the widely loved Chinese foods, and for good reason. This tasty roll is made by wrapping a combination of chopped cabbage and meats and sometimes noodles in a sheet of dough. It is then dipped in egg and deep fried to become super crunchy. Egg rolls have more filling and hence larger in size than its cousin spring roll. Its skin is crunchier and thicker.

Chinese Dumplings - Chinese dumplings are a wonderful addition to your home cooked meals, and can be prepared simply and quickly using just a few ingredients. The key to making an excellent dumpling is to make sure that all of your ingredients are finely chopped, so that each of the dumplings cooks in the same amount of time.

Beef and Broccoli - The key to creating a fabulous Beef and Broccoli dish at home is to make an excellent sauce made up of oyster sauce, light soy sauce, thick soy sauce and cornstarch solution. Marinade the beef before stir frying with sugar, rice vinegar, cornstarch solution, soy sauce and sugar.

Sweet and Sour Pork - This savory-sweet highly popular Chinese dish is of Cantonese origin. It is a good dish to prepare when you are planning on having guests, who will be wildly impressed with your cooking skill. As with other Chinese food recipes, the key to making a great Sweet and Sour Pork dish is in the sauce made of ketchup, sugar, soy sauce and white vinegar. Its ingredients include pork, onion, bell pepper and pineapple cut into bite size pieces.

Mapo Dofu - Mapo doufu or Mapo tofu is a well-known Chinese dish from the Sichuan province. Ingredients used for this recipe include beancurd or tofu, and minced beef or pork cooked in a bright red spicy sauce based on chili.

Chop Suey - Chop suey or "za sui" or "shap sui" literally means ‘mixed pieces’ is an American-Chinese dish usually employs leftover vegetables and meats stir fried quickly in a starch-thickened sauce. It is a great dish when you need to use up the last of yesterday’s pork roast of chicken and can incorporate meats of any kind such as pork, shrimp, beef, fish or chicken and various vegetables from celery to bean sprouts and cabbage. Chop Suey is often served with rice.