Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (2 page)

The flavors of some of the simplest recipes in this book will amaze you, I hope, as they still amaze me. Just try Blanched Choy Sum with Sizzling Oil, a dish that takes only 15 minutes to make but is beautiful enough to launch ships, or the Sichuanese sauces for cold chicken, which will transform the way you view leftovers from your Sunday roast or Christmas turkey. Spinach cooked with garlic, chilli and fermented tofu tastes exquisite and is so much more than the sum of its parts. Often, when I cook these dishes, I wonder at the alchemy of it, how such basic techniques can provoke such mesmerizing sensations of flavor.

This book, then, is a collection of recipes and basic Chinese kitchen techniques that I have found to be an inspiration in my own home cooking. I hope you’ll find them inspiring too.

BASICS

You don’t need many ingredients to get started with Chinese cooking. The following is a list of the seasonings that are the staples of the Chinese larder. (For more information on each seasoning and for a full glossary of Chinese ingredients used in the recipes, with their Chinese pronunciation and Chinese characters, tap
here
.) You will also need cooking oil with a high smoke point, such as peanut or rapeseed (tap
here
for detailed advice). And it’s really useful to have some stock on hand, either bagged-up homemade stock in the freezer, cans of chicken stock or vegetable stock granules.

Soy sauce (light soy sauce or tamari, and dark soy sauce)

One of the essential seasonings of the Chinese kitchen. Light soy sauce is generally used to add flavor and saltiness to food, dark soy sauce for a caramel color. A good tamari—darker than light soy sauce but richly flavored—can be used instead of light soy sauce.

Chinkiang or Chinese brown rice vinegar

A speciality of the town of Zhenjiang (or Chinkiang) in eastern China, the best is made from fermented glutinous rice with charred rice used to give a deep brown color. It has a mellow, complex flavor and a relatively light acidity. Chinkiang vinegar can be found in Chinese groceries, while a generic brown rice vinegar is available in some supermarkets.

Toasted sesame oil

With its dark, nutty color and intense aroma, this is never used as a cooking oil, but to add fragrance to dishes. Use it in tiny quantities, and add it to hot dishes right at the end of cooking, as heating it for too long will destroy its fragrance.

Chilli oil

This adds a gorgeous heat and luster to cold dishes and dips. Tap
here
for a recipe for making your own.

Dried chillies

An essential of Sichuanese cooking. Use larger, milder red chillies, ideally those known as “facing-heaven” (see photo opposite), rather than smaller, hotter varieties.

Whole Sichuan pepper

Good Sichuan pepper has a fresh, citrussy aroma and the addictive quality of making your lips dance and tingle. It can be used whole, or roasted and ground (tap
here
).

A few spices (start with cassia bark and star anise)

These are generally used in combination to give aroma and flavor to broths and stews.

Shaoxing wine

This rice wine is a mild, amber-colored liquor that is often used in marinades to refine the flavors of meat, fish and poultry. Cheap Shaoxing wines for cooking can be found in Chinese supermarkets; they are not recommended for drinking. Many Chinese shops sell some more expensive Shaoxing wines that can be drunk on their own or used in cooking.

Potato flour or cornstarch

The Chinese use a variety of plain starches to thicken sauces and to give a silky mouthfeel to wok-cooked meat, fish and poultry. If you can, use potato flour, which can be found in any Chinese supermarket. Cornstarch is a reasonable substitute.

Fresh ginger, garlic and spring onions

Used separately or in combination, these three vegetables are what the food-writer Yan-kit So called the Chinese “kitchen trinity.”

MAGIC INGREDIENTS

One of the reasons simple Chinese cooking is so exciting is the use of what I think of as magic ingredients: richly flavored seasonings that transform common foods into delicacies fit for an emperor. Just as the Italians might use a sprinkle of Parmesan to awaken the tastes of an entire plateful of pasta, or shave white truffle over a simple poached egg to turn it into something ambrosial, Chinese cooks use small amounts of dried shiitake mushrooms, soy sauce, preserved vegetables, dried shrimp and other seasonings to enhance the flavors of fresh produce. Getting to know these magic ingredients is the key to making largely vegetarian ingredients taste so delicious that you won’t miss meat at all.

A NOTE ON UMAMI

The word “umami” has come to refer to the rich, savory tastes of some ingredients. It was first used in this way in 1908 by a Japanese scientist who discovered that the irresistible savory taste of kombu seaweed came from its natural glutamates; “umami” was the name he gave to their taste.

Many of the foods that cooks have used for centuries to create intense savory flavors—such as cured hams, Parmesan and dried fish—are now known to be rich in umami compounds. Umami, it turns out, is just a new word for something good cooks have known about for a very long time. I find umami an invaluable concept in thinking about food, so I use it freely in this book.

Black fermented soy beans

These dry, wizened beans have a rich, complex flavor similar to soy sauce. They are the main ingredient in black bean sauce and can also be used whole in stir-fries and braises. They have been used in Chinese cooking for more than 2,000 years.

Fermented tofu

A soft, cheese-like relish sold as cubes packed in jars of brine, this has an intense flavor a little reminiscent of Roquefort. Eat as a relish to liven up steamed rice or congee, or use in sauces for an enticing flavor and delightful creaminess.

Sichuanese chilli bean paste

Made from salt-fermented chillies and fava beans, this gives a gorgeous savory intensity and deep red color to all kinds of dishes. It is an indispensable seasoning of Sichuanese cooking.

Sweet fermented sauce

A dark, rich, glossy paste used both to boost the savoriness of cooked dishes and as the base of dips for delicacies such as roast pork and crispy duck.

Preserved vegetables

A wide variety of salt-preserved and brine-pickled vegetables are used across China for their salt-sour, umami flavors. They add a delicious savory richness to all kinds of dishes, and are particularly exciting with fresh peas and beans. If you’ve ever eaten Sichuanese dry-fried beans and wondered about those utterly delicious dark crinkly bits that cling to the beans, they are one of these preserves, Sichuanese
ya cai
. (Tap
here
for photos of the most important preserved vegetables.)

Dried shiitake mushrooms

In the same way as Italian porcini, these lend a profound umami richness to other foods and, after soaking, have a pleasingly juicy texture. Their soaking water is delicious in soups, stews and stocks.

Cured ham

As in Spanish and Italian cooking, dark cured hams are used to add rich, savory umami flavors. They are particularly important in the cooking of the Southern Yangtze region and Yunnan.

Dried shimps

These add an intense savory edge. The smallest, which are paper-thin, can be added directly to dishes; larger shrimp are soaked in hot water first.

KITCHEN EQUIPMENT

THE WOK

A good wok is almost essential. I say almost because it’s certainly possible to rustle up a Chinese meal without one (as I have done many times, in friends’ homes or holiday cottages), but it’s not ideal, because stir-frying just isn’t the same in a frying pan. The high sides of a wok make it possible to turn and toss ingredients vigorously, and they conduct heat swiftly and evenly. The narrow base (particularly of the round-bottomed kind) also demands much less oil than a frying pan.

A wok is primarily associated with stir-frying, but can also be used to boil, steam, deep-fry, and to roast spices such as Sichuan pepper. If you plan to stir-fry and deep-fry or steam dishes for the same meal, it’s useful to own a couple of woks, one to hold oil for deep-frying or water for steaming, the other for stir-frying.

There are several kinds of wok, varying in the materials from which they are made, their bases (flat or curved), their sizes and the arrangement of their handles. In general, I recommend a 12–14 inch wok for home use. Larger Chinese supermarkets sell a variety of sizes; they tend to be cheaper than brand-name woks sold in other shops and just as good.

Carbon steel, round-bottomed

This type of wok, the most typical of a Chinese kitchen, has a curved base and is made from thin carbon steel. If you have a gas stove with a wok stand, this is the best kind to use (it is not suitable for a flat electric stovetop). The carbon steel conducts heat efficiently through the sides, while the curved shape helps you to keep scooping up the ingredients and tossing them with the oil and seasonings that pool in the base. A new carbon steel wok must be scrubbed and seasoned (tap
here
).

Over time, the surface of the wok will blacken and acquire a seasoned patina. If you strip this off by using the wok for boiling, re-season the surface afterwards to prevent rusting. This kind of wok is usually sold in various sizes, in Chinese groceries, at very modest prices. Cast-iron woks, which require similar seasoning, may also be found in Chinese shops.

Carbon steel, flat-bottomed

The only difference between this and the one above is its flat base, which makes it suitable for electric stovetops. It must also be seasoned, and re-seasoned if you strip off its protective patina.

Non-stick, flat-bottomed

A fairly recent innovation, this tends to be sold in mainstream shops rather than Chinese stores. Aside from its non-stick qualities, it has the advantage that it won’t rust and doesn’t need seasoning, but it doesn’t produce food that is as sizzly and delicious as that made in a traditional wok. There is also concern that heating empty non-stick pans over high heat may release chemicals that could be damaging to human health and, since heating a wok before you add ingredients is one of the pre-requisites of stir-frying, I’m not convinced that using a non-stick wok for this purpose is a good idea, so I don’t recommend it.

Induction wok (flat- or round-bottomed)

An induction stove has rapid heat control and can achieve far higher temperatures than most domestic stovetops. It’s also easy to clean (simply wipe the smooth surface). The disadvantages are that you cannot toss the wok, as it only retains heat when its base is touching the burner, and that induction stoves are very expensive.

A note on wok handles

Left to right:
wok lid; flat-bottomed wok with one long handle and one “ear” handle; round-bottomed carbon steel wok with two metal “ears”; bamboo wok brush; round-bottomed carbon steel wok with one long handle; wok stand (in top right-hand corner).

Some woks have two “ear” handles on opposite sides, which makes them very stable and so particularly suitable for deep-frying or steaming, when they are filled with large quantities of hot liquid. They can also be used for stir-frying. Other woks have one long handle, which makes the wok easy to hold and move around, but it also makes it less stable, so this kind of wok is less suitable for steaming and deep-frying. If you are only going to have one wok, a good compromise is the kind with a long handle on one side and a small “ear” handle on the other.

Preparing a new wok

With a new carbon steel wok, begin by scrubbing the interior surface with steel wool. Then wash it thoroughly with soapy water, rinse and dry. Heat over a high flame and, when it is really hot, pour in a little cooking oil and carefully smear it over the surface with a good wad of paper towels (protect your hands). Let it cool slightly, then repeat this process twice with fresh towels and oil. Your wok is now ready to use.