Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (47 page)

Always sold in bunches and resembling, from a distance, long Chinese spring onions, this actually has flat, deep-green leaves rather like those of leeks. It is often used in stir-fries and is delicious in combination with a little smoked bacon. It is a traditional ingredient in classic Sichuanese dishes such as
Pock-marked Old Woman’s Tofu
(
ma po dou fu,
) and
Twice-cooked Pork
. If you can’t find it in a Chinese supermarket, use slender baby leeks, or even spring onions instead. You can also substitute any light green sprouts that emerge from the neglected or forgotten garlic bulbs in your kitchen.

OTHER FRESH VEGETABLES

1 | 蘿蔔

Asian radish
(
luo bo
)

The crisp, crystalline flesh of this long white root, known also as daikon and mooli, can have a slightly peppery bite, but it is much less hot than the little red radishes found in the West. It can be eaten raw in salads and garnishes, stir-fried, or simmered in soups and stews; it is particularly good with beef. Chose firm radishes and peel them before use.

2 | 豆芽，芽菜

Beansprouts
(
dou ya,
ya cai
)

The most common type of these are sprouted from mung beans and are generally used in soups and stir-fries, or blanched and mixed into salady appetizers. Sprouted soy beans, which are less commonly found in the West, are thicker and coarser, but can be simmered in water to make a good vegetarian stock.

3 | 鮮百合

Fresh day lily bulb
(
xian bai he
)

Fresh day lily bulbs, which can be found seasonally in some Chinese supermarkets, look rather like garlic bulbs. Peeled, they can be separated into petal-like lobes, which have little flavor of their own but are highly prized for their beautiful crispness in the mouth and their exotic appearance. They are most commonly used in stir-fries, alongside other crisp and crunchy vegetables. Most Chinese stores sell packages of dried lily bulb, which can be reconstituted by soaking in hot water, but I don’t recommend this as a substitute for the fresh kind in stir-fries. The fresh bulbs are normally sold vacuum-packed and will keep for several weeks stored in the refrigerator.

4 | 青豆

Fresh green soy beans
(
qing dou
)

Unripe soy beans have a bright green color and a lovely flavor. They are wonderful boiled, steamed or stir-fried and can also be used to add a little splash of color to fried rice or noodle dishes. If you can’t buy them fresh, look for them frozen in bags in some larger supermarkets and whole food stores. In their pods, these are often known by their Japanese name, “edamame.”

5 | 藕

Lotus root
(
ou
)

This is actually the segmented underwater stem of the lotus plant. Peeled and sliced, it has a beautiful lace-like appearance and a refreshingly crisp mouthfeel. It can be blanched and then used in cold dishes, stir-fried, or added to soups and stews.

6 | 絲瓜

Silk gourd
(
si gua
)

The long silk gourd, otherwise known as loofah gourd, has a coarse reptilian skin and pale flesh that becomes spongy and juicy after cooking. There are two main types, one plump and pale and the other with sharp ridges in its dark green skin (see photo, right). I have found the latter variety on sale in my local Chinatown, but either can be used for the silk gourd recipe in this book,
Silk Gourd with Green Soy Beans
. The skin of the gourd is never eaten, but should be peeled away and discarded before cooking.

7 | 芋頭

Taro
(
yu tou
)

This purplish-brown, bristly root vegetable can be found in Chinese and Caribbean or African shops. If you can find them, use tiny young corms, which have a very delicate, milky texture when cooked; otherwise, larger ones, which are more floury, will do. And do make sure you wear rubber gloves when peeling taro: their hairy skins contain a mild toxin, neutralized by cooking, that can otherwise make your wrists and arms itch like crazy for an hour or so.

8 | 馬蹄，荸薺

Water chestnuts
(
ma ti,
bi qi
)

You can buy these sweet, crisp nuts in cans, ready peeled, but the fresh variety, often sold in larger Chinese groceries, are far superior. If you can buy fresh water chestnuts, wash them well and peel them before use. They can be cooked or eaten raw, like a fruit; the latter is the best way to appreciate their delicate natural sweetness.

9 | 冬瓜

Winter melon
(
dong gua
)

These melons, which grow to enormous sizes, have dark, blue-green skins with a thin, frost-like coating and crisp apple-white flesh. They can be a light, refreshing accompaniment to robust ingredients such as meatballs in soups (tap
here
), and can also be wok-cooked. Because of their vastness, winter melons are normally sold cut into more manageable slices. Sometimes the smaller melons are carved with spectacular intricate designs, hollowed out and used as soup tureens at banquets.

PRESERVED VEGETABLES

In the past, these preserves were a way of dealing with seasonal gluts of particular crops; these days, they are eaten as much for their delicious tastes as for their nutritional value. Some are pickled in brine: these have a refreshing sour taste. Others are sun-wilted, rubbed with salt and spices and packed into jars to ferment: they are moist and salty and have complex savory flavors that give a real lift to vegetarian dishes, especially those based on peas and beans. Different varieties of these wilted, spiced vegetables have different tastes, but to an extent you can use them interchangeably. The following types are used in this book:

1 | 橄欖菜

“Olive” vegetable
(
gan lan cai
)

A speciality of the Cantonese region of Chaozhou, this marvellous relish is made from dark preserved mustard greens, vegetable oil and Chinese olives (unrelated to European olives). Eat it from the jar with rice or noodles, or drain away the oil and use it in stir-fries. You’ll find a few Chinese olives in each jar: watch out for their pits. This tends to be sold in larger Chinese supermarkets.

2 | 酸菜，泡菜

Pickled mustard greens
(
suan cai,
pao cai
)

These are leafy mustard greens pickled in brine. Their stems are a pale ivory and their leaves darker, their color varying from a dull yellow-green to a darker grey-green. They have a juicy texture, a refreshing sour taste and are lovely in soups.

3 | 榨菜

Sichuan preserved vegetable
(
zha cai
)

Knobbly dried mustard tubers that have been salted, spiced and packed into jars to ferment. This pickle has a crisp texture and sour-savory taste and makes a wonderful garnish for hot and cold dishes, as well as an ingredient in soups, stir-fries and appetizers. It is sold in cans and should be rinsed before use.

4 | 芽菜

Sichuanese ya cai
(
ya cai
)

This dark, sleek, crunchy preserve, the magic ingredient in
Sichuanese Dry-fried Green Beans
and
Classic Dan Dan Noodles
, is usually sold chopped, in sachets. It can be hard to find, but is increasingly available in Chinese supermarkets. If your local Chinese grocery doesn’t stock it, use Tianjin preserved vegetable instead.

5 | 雪菜，雪裡蕻

Snow vegetable
(
xue cai,
xue li hong
)

A juicy preserve made from a variety of salted mustard greens, this has a delicious sour and savory flavor. A favorite in Shanghai and the Southern Yangtze region, it can be found, in sachets, in many Chinese supermarkets. Eat directly, or use in cooking.

6 | 天津冬菜

Tianjin preserved vegetable
(
dong cai
)

A salted mustard green reminiscent of Sichuanese
ya cai
, this can be used as a substitute. It is sold in squat, earthenware jars and is very salty, so should be rinsed well and squeezed dry before use.

PRESERVED MEAT AND EGGS

7 | 火腿

Cured ham
(
huo tui
)

Chinese cooks, like those in Spain and Italy, use pieces of dark, cured hams to intensify umami flavors. The finest in China come from Yunnan in the south west and Jinhua in eastern Zhejiang Province. They are not available in the West, but Spanish hams make a marvellous substitute: look out for cheaper cuts.

8 | 皮蛋

Preserved duck eggs
(
pi dan
)

Known in the West as “1,000-year-old eggs,” these are made by treating duck eggs with strong alkalis that “cook” them chemically. It’s a technology that dates back at least to the sixteenth century. In the past, the eggs were caked in a paste made from mud, tea, rice husks and salt, with alkaline ingredients such as wood ash, soda, lye and lime; these days they may be simply immersed in an alkaline liquid. The eggs are sold, in boxes, in most Chinese supermarkets. They just need to be peeled before eating.

9 | 鹹蛋

Salted duck eggs
(
xian dan
)

These are duck eggs that have been salt-preserved in brine or a salty paste. The salt changes their structure, so the albumen remains runny while the yolks become solid and waxy. The whites can be drizzled into soup and the yolks, which have an amazing umami flavor, chopped and used in soups or stir-fries. They are also hard-boiled and eaten as a relish or appetizer. They are sold in many Chinese food shops.

FERMENTED PRODUCTS, SAUCES AND PASTES

1 | 豆豉

Black fermented soy beans
(
dou chi
)

These intensely tasty little beans are the base of black bean sauces and can be used in stir-fries and other wok-cooked dishes. They look withered, but have a rich, savory flavor reminiscent of good soy sauce. Rinse them before use. They keep indefinitely: some in the Hunan Provincial Museum that were found in a tomb dating back to the second century BC still look usable!

2 | 豆腐乳

Fermented tofu
(
dou fu ru
)

A delicious Chinese relish that can transform a simple spinach stir-fry into something ambrosial (see
Spinach with Chilli and Fermented Tofu
), and add body and umami richness to sauces and marinades. It has a strong, fermented taste somewhat reminiscent of a very ripe Roquefort, and a texture that can be creamily soft or curd-like and crumbly. Serve it straight from the jar: a cube or two in a little dipping dish goes very well with plain rice or noodles for breakfast or a midnight feast (I sometimes also eat it spread sparingly on toast, like anchovy paste). There are many types, but the most useful are the white (i) and red (ii) varieties (
bai dou fu ru
and
hong dou fu ru
or
nan ru
). You will usually find white fermented tofu sold in glass jars filled with brine, either on its own or with a little red chilli. For the recipes in this book, either is fine. Red fermented tofu is eaten in Shanghai and the Southern Yangtze region. It is normally sold in cans or clay jars and has a dramatic, deep crimson color from red yeast rice (
hong qu mi
), and a rich, yeasty, almost biscuity taste. It’s delicious with stir-fried spinach and in pork stews (see
Tuzi’s Slow-cooked Ribs with Red Fermented Tofu
).