Best Of Chinese Cuisine: Herbal Dish

Book to health as the theme to the foreigners about the traditional Chinese diet and culture of the Chinese diet, illustrations, layout with international style, and highly practical.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Sweet Treats

Sweet Soups

Herbal Drinks

Herbal Teas

Savoury Stews

Double-boiled Dishes

Herbal One-pot Meals

Weights and Measures

Bird’s Nest and Hasma

COOKING TIME: 1 HOUR SERVES 4

White on white, these two ingredients combine particularly well for a super-smooth drink that is full of goodness, flavour and texture.

Ingredients

Hasma (xue ge/shuet kup) 60 g

Bird’s nest 60 g

Rock sugar 150 g

Water 1 litre

Screwpine (pandan) leaves 3, washed and tied into a knot

Method

• Soak hasma in plenty of water until completely soft. Snip off any hard bits. Wash and drain well.

• Combine all ingredients in a pot. Simmer for 1 hour. Serve warm or chilled.

Cooking Know-how

Agar-agar, or Japanese gelatin, can be used either as a substitute for hasma or as a third ingredient for more crunch.

Spare Ribs with Chinese Yam, Angelica and Wolfberries

COOKING TIME: 2 HOURS; SERVES 2

Chinese yam aids the lungs and kidneys and generally nourishes the whole body. All cuts of pork, including spare ribs, are deemed ‘neutral’ and could become Yin or Yang in energy, depending on the herbs used. This is a ‘warming’ or Yang dish and is especially good for women after giving birth.

Ingredients

Pork spare ribs 500 g, cut into large pieces and excess fat trimmed

Chinese yam

(shan yao/wai san) 8 g, rinsed and drained

Chinese angelica

(dang gui/dong kwai) 8 g, rinsed and drained

Chinese wolfberries

(gou qi zi/gei chi) 2 Tbsp, rinsed and drained

Water 1 litre

Salt 2 tsp

Method

• Combine all ingredients in a double-boiler. Cook over medium heat for 2 hours. Discard herbs. Serve with rice.

Cooking Know-how

This recipe can also be prepared through conventional stove-top cooking, gas or electric. In a covered pot, simmer over medium heat for about 1 hour.

Foreword

For thousands of years, within the pantheon of revered Chinese culinary practices, the school of herbal cooking has always been cherished for its restorative elements and hearty prescription for every human ill. Soups, stews and teas that have curative promise are legion and deemed to effectively restore Qi and to correct any bodily imbalance. The founding tenet of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), under which herbal brews are a respected and revered school, points to this very imbalance that causes many human ills. Herbal foods may

be regarded as being primarily preventative, underscoring the adage “prevention is better then cure”. It is by this dictum that we should regard herbal cooking — as an ancient and time-honoured branch of Chinese cuisine that fathoms the efficacy of a multitude of herbs, barks, roots, nuts and seeds when paired with meat, poultry, vegetables or seafood. Even for skeptics chary of this claim, there is the undeniable fact of sheer tastiness.

A distinction is to be made between specific medicinal preparations in TCM and herbal ones that transform everyday dishes into powerhouses of sustenance. While the former can be distasteful to those unused to strong and even foul flavours, the range of herbs used in this book are generally milder and used in judicious tandem with familiar meats and vegetables.

In this school of cooking, little is added by way of artificial flavourings as the intention is to let the herbs do the work. Those unaccustomed to such dishes may initially find them strange, but when the healthy promise behind each blend has been felt, a willing acceptance will follow. Rest assured that there are no dire consequences to be feared in enjoying duck with bitter apricot kernels; chicken with Chinese wolfberries; or pork with Chinese angelica, or dang gui as it is better known in Mandarin. With this book, it will be possible for even the most diffident of cooks to produce a wide spectrum of delicious and wholesome dishes, not to mention there is much room for adaptation and innovation even within the fairly rigid framework that governs herbal mixes. Regard this book as a vital entry to your library of good eating tomes, adding to the richness that is Chinese cuisine. It will certainly enrich your table, whatever the efficacious promise.