At Home with Chinese Cuisine (33 page)
Read At Home with Chinese Cuisine Online
Authors: T P Hong
Pak Choy, Stir-fried Pak Choy, and Pak Choy Stir-fried with Fresh Mushrooms
青江菜,青江菜二炒
Pak
Choy
Both pak choy and Chinese leaf come from the Brassica family. But they belong to two distinctive cultivar groups within the family. While Chinese leaf belongs to the group of Brassica Pekinensis, pak choy belongs to the group of Brassica Chinensis.
The group members of Brassica Chinensis all have a clearly identifiable stem with circle-skirt-shape leaf. Their stems and leaves come in different colours. The stems can be found in apple green or white, while their leaves can be in grass green, dark green or purple with green-underside leaves.
They are all very quick to cook and their flavours are not too dissimilar. In the West, they are called pak choi, bok choy, bok choi and more. Because these names are not the English translation of their Chinese Mandarin pronunciation, it could be confusing for people who only speak Mandarin to figure out which is which. If you are in China, you will also find this group of vegetable with confusingly different names in Beijing, Shanghai and further down south. Visual encounter is the easiest way to identify them. To simplify matters, I shall use the name pak choy to include the leafy vegetable from the group of Brassica Chinensis in this book.
For the Chinese, leafy vegetables such as pak choy are mostly for stir-frying. For those mature ones from supermarkets, the stems are thicker and will take a bit longer to cook. Separating the stems from the leaves is the first thing to remember in preparation. Cut the stem along the fibre if it is tender, cut diagonally or across the fibre if not. Tear the leaf or cut them into similar size. During the cooking, the stems have to be added to the wok first and stir-fried for 5-10 seconds before adding the leaves. When the leaves are just wilted, the vegetable is ready to plate. Because the residual heat will continue to “cook” the vegetable, some fragile greens can turn brown soon after being plated. Householders in Shanghai have a way to deal with this problem. They move the vegetable away from the middle of the plate so that there is a hole in the centre for the steam to escape. It does not work all the time but is worth giving a try.
For the fine and tender “chicken feather” variety available in Shanghai in early spring, we do not need to separate the stem from the leaf at all, but just rinse, drain and stir-fry because its stem is as fine as the leaf.
In Shanghai, I noticed that the locals add finely shredded fresh ginger to stir-fry with pak choy. This is probably because pak choy is of a cool food property. It can be balanced with ginger (without the skin) that has a warm food property. They also complement one another in flavour.
If you have a sunny patch in the garden waiting to be fully utilised, you might want to consider planting pak choy. Starting from April onwards, the tiny new growths not more than 3 or 4 cm can be a seasonal addition to the salad bowl. Give them 2 or 3 more weeks to grow (depending on the weather and whether they are given the green house treatment), the baby pak choy (6-8 cm) take less than 20 seconds to be stir-fried in hot oil (with no need to separate the stem from the leaves). If we are tired of them by the late autumn, allow them to bolt and collect the seeds for sprouting in the winter or for planting in the following years.
Stir-fried Pak Choy
300-400 g pak choy cooking oil salt | Heat the wok over a medium-high heat. Pour the cooking oil in the wok and wait until it is hot. Add a small pinch of salt into the wok. Put the stems in, stir quickly for 5 to 10 seconds (depending upon the size of the cut and the thickness of the stem) followed by the leaves. When the leaves just wilt, they are ready to be plated. |
Pak Choy Stir-fried with Fresh Mushrooms
For stir-frying with other vegetables of different texture, we can prepare each ingredient to the similar doneness (by knife work, blanching in water, blanching in oil, for example) and then put them into the wok for the final stir-frying. Or we put them into the wok sequentially with the one that requires the longest cooking time to go into the wok first.
Walking around supermarkets, it is nice to find that shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms are no longer regarded as exotic vegetables. Shiitake mushroom is the more assertive partner while the oyster mushroom is the quieter one in flavour. Slice the shiitake mushroom thinly or tear the oyster mushrooms into small pieces for cooking. Over a medium-high heat, the mushrooms go into the wok about ten seconds ahead of adding the pak choy stems.
Other mushrooms with firmer texture, such as the chanterelle and shimeji are also good for stir-frying. Cook them separately over a high heat. Add them to the pak choy just before plating.
White-braised Three Vegetables
白燒三素
In this white-braising dish from HuNan Province, the broth from chicken or pork bones contributes to the creamy white colour. By cooking chicken and pork bones in cold water to start with, the water is heated gradually with the aim to extract as much flavour as possible from the bones by giving more time for the water-soluble proteins to dissolve in the water before they coagulate. As the cooking liquid heats up, some of the fat on the bones float to the surface of the water. Impurities such as blood in meat or bone also start to coagulate and form grey or brown colour particles we describe as scum. They also float to the surface of the cooking liquid. If we allow the water to boil fiercely, these impurities will soon coagulate, forming miniscule particles that do not settle and are not captured by the rising fat. They remain suspended in the cooking liquid and make it cloudy. We obtain our “milky” broth after a long hour of boiling.
Bamboo shoots, shiitake mushrooms, and pak choy together are a pleasing colour combination against the background of the white sauce in this dish. Fresh bamboo shoots are not easily available in the West. For me, bamboo shoots from the tin are not an alternative because they are neither crunchy nor sweet. Fresh water chestnuts in a vacuum pack are available in Chinese or oriental grocery stores, and they are a good alternative to the fresh bamboo shoots. After peeling the water chestnuts, soak them in water to prevent discolouration. Slice them thinly and stir-fry them for one minute or so. They are very sweet and crunchy.
100 g fresh bamboo shoots or 5 fresh water chestnuts 100 g fresh shiitake mushrooms 100 g young pak choy salt and pepper 15 ml cooking oil 90 ml hot chicken or pork broth 2 g ginger, finely sliced ½ t sesame seed oil 1 t cornflour mixed with 1 t water | Hold the knife on a slant and slice the mushrooms and the bamboo shoots (or the water chestnuts) to the approximate thickness and size of the young pak choy stem. Blanch the mushrooms and the bamboo shoots (or the water chestnuts) separately in cooking oil over a medium heat until soft. Drain them on kitchen towels to remove excess oil. Just before cooking, blanch the young pak choy in lightly salted boiling water. Put the stalks in first, count to 5, and slide the whole plant into the water. Count to 5 and bring them out. Add 15 ml of the cooking oil in the hot wok over a medium heat. Add the ginger and stir until its aroma is released. Pour in the broth. When the broth starts to boil, add the mushrooms and the bamboo shoots (or the water chestnuts). Turn up the heat to reduce the broth by half. Season to taste. When the broth comes to a boil, pour in the cornflour and water mixture in a circular motion. Stir to allow it to bubble away for 30 seconds or so. When the sauce comes back to a boil, add the pak choy and stir to mix. Drizzle the sesame seed oil on top. Plate on a warm dish to serve. |
Kaofu with Four Companions
四喜烤麩
Kaofu is the Chinese name for steamed wheat flour gluten. By washing wheat flour dough with water until the starch dissolves, the elastic mass left behind is then steamed. It has a spongy texture and it does absorb cooking liquid like a sponge. It is a popular ingredient as a source of protein for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
Fresh kaofu is easily available in Shanghai and is sold in a chunky brownish piece displayed next to bean curds. One can ask vendors to cut to size from a large piece. It goes off easily, so either buy the exact quantity for immediate use, or it freezes well. The fresh one has to be deep-fried before it can be used for this dish. Tear the kaofu into bite–sized pieces by hand for deep-frying. The hand-torn, irregular shape allows greater surface area to be coated by the sauce.
Beijingese do not seem to care for fresh kaofu as much, but dried kaofu can be found in the dried goods section of supermarkets. It softens in warm water quickly. Squeeze excess water, rinse well, and use it the same way as the fresh one by deep-frying it first before using.
This classic Shanghai dish is mostly served as a cold plate to start the meal. It tastes quite sweet and is balanced by the savouriness of soy sauce, as in many classic Shanghai dishes. Crystal (rock) sugar is used to give it a subtle sweetness to the overall flavour that other varieties of sugar cannot offer. I rely on dried tiger lily buds for a hint of acidity, which adds an extra dimension to the blending of the tastes.
The four common accompanying ingredients in this dish are fresh bamboo shoots, black wood ears, tiger lily buds, and peanuts. Reconstituted shiitake mushrooms are often used as a substitute for black wood ears. I substitute water chestnuts in the summer or Chinese yam in the autumn when bamboo shoots are not in season, and I use edamame (young soya beans) or ginkgo nuts for the peanuts when fresh green edamame is available in the early summer and new season ginkgo nuts are available in the autumn and winter months. Red hot chilli is a must for me because it gives heat and the red colour to the dish. Finely sliced carrot can be used in lieu of the red chilli for the colour, and its flavour compliments the seasoning. This is a dish that one can play with the ingredients to give the five colours of black, white, red, yellow, and green, as well as the blending of tastes.
200 g fresh kaofu, or 100 g dried kaofu, reconstituted, rinsed in warm water, and squeezed dry 8 dried black wood ears 20 dried tiger lily buds 20–30 g cooked peanuts (boiled or steamed) 60–80 g fresh bamboo shoots 1–2 fresh red chilli (optional) 10 g ginger, thinly sliced 2 spring onion greens, coarsely chopped (optional) cooking oil For the seasoning: 2 T dark soy sauce 15 g (or more) crystal (rock) sugar 4 t rice wine salt and pepper | Tear kaofu by hand into approximately 3 cm square pieces and fry them in a generous amount of oil over a medium heat until the edges turns golden. Rinse them in warm water to remove excess oil and squeeze them dry; they are ready to be used. To reconstitute dried black wood ears, please see “Dried black wood ears” in the Readers’ Guide to Recipes. Tear them by hand to a similar size as the kaofu. Leave dried tiger lily buds in warm water to soak until soft; rinse and shake dry. Tie each lily bud into a knot (to avoid damaging the petals from stirring or tossing during the cooking). Blanch the bamboo shoots in boiling water for 5 minutes or so. Slice them thinly (no thicker than 2 mm). Mix the seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Heat the wok over a medium heat until hot. Add 30 ml of the cooking oil in the wok until hot. Add the ginger and stir until it is slightly coloured. Add kaofu pieces and stir for 2–3 minutes to further remove the moisture in them. Add the seasoning ingredients and stir until they are absorbed by kaofu. Add black wood ear, tiger lily buds, and bamboo shoots (if used) and stir for 2–3 minutes. Add the fresh red chilli (if used) and stir for about one minute or so. Add warm water to just submerge the ingredients. (If the shiitake mushrooms are used, filter the soaking liquid and use it instead of water). Cook for about 15–20 minutes with the lid on. When the time is up, feel the kaofu. It should be soft and springy to touch. If it is not, put the lid back on and cook a bit longer. Taste to adjust the seasoning on the light side. Add the peanuts. Turn up the heat, stir from time to time, and allow the liquid to evaporate so that there is no excess liquid left in the wok. Strew the spring onion greens (if used) and drizzle the sesame seed oil along the rim; stir or toss to combine. This dish is served warm, cold, or chilled. |