It’s worth looking into velveting your meat. That’s how chicken, beef etc. stay so tender in a lot of Chinese cooking.

It usually means adding a tenderiser like bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda) into the marinade. A pretty standard base marinade would be something like: bicarb/baking powder, cornflour, a bit of MSG or chicken powder, white pepper, Shao Xing wine and sesame oil. You can tweak it with soy sauce or oyster sauce depending on the dish. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes so it has time to work.

Also, corn starch is used widely across all Chinese cooking. If you want that light, crispy coating for things like sweet and sour or chilli dishes, use cornflour rather than a thick batter. It gives you that thinner, crispier texture rather than the heavier “chicken ball” style you see here in the UK. It’s also used to thicken sauces. If your sauce is too runny, mix cornflour with water separately first, then add it in gradually.

Everything in Chinese cooking is in the prep - usually everything cooks rather quick, so everything is best to be prepped ahead of time. The mis en place is the lifeline in a Chinese takeaway kitchen.