Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking (3 page)

Maintaining your wok

After use, a quick scrub under the tap is normally enough to clean a wok. If you do scour the surface, you will need to re-season the wok, heating and oiling it as described above, to prevent rusting. You will also need to re-season your wok after using it for boiling or steaming, because the water will strip off most of its protective patina. There is no need to be precious about traditional woks: they are built to be virtually indestructible. Even if the surface has rusted, all you need do is scrub away the rust with steel wool and re-season the surface and it will be fit for cooking once more. It is not usually necessary to clean the underside of a wok.

My own woks

In my kitchen, I have one 12 inch, round-bottomed, long-handled, carbon steel wok which I use mainly for stir-frying. I also have a 13 inch, round-bottomed, carbon steel wok with two metal “ears” which I always use for steaming, boiling and deep-frying and, infrequently, for stir-frying. I keep a large (15 inch), round-bottomed, carbon steel wok with two metal “ears” in a cupboard and bring it out on occasions when I want to cook a couple of fish at the same time, say, or something else that demands a little more space.

Apart from these, I have a 13 inch, round-bottomed, long-handled, carbon steel wok I bought from an elderly woksmith in Zhenjiang, eastern China. This man was the third generation of his family in the business, and heated the metal for his woks in a furnace before hammering out the red-hot metal by hand. It is rare to come across a traditional woksmith, and I couldn’t resist buying one of his wares.

WOK ACCESSORIES

Wok scoop

Most home cooks in China use a wok scoop to lift and turn the ingredients in a stir-fry, as well as to transfer food on to a serving dish. A spatula or a long-handled spoon are good substitutes.

Chinese ladle

Professional Chinese chefs favor ladles over wok scoops, using them not only to move food around in the wok, but also to scoop up oil, stock or water to add to a dish, to mix up seasonings and to stir the starch-and-water pastes used to thicken sauces. Chinese cooking ladles have a different shape from Western serving ladles; their bowls are more flush to their handles. Western ladles are not suitable for wok cooking because of the sharper angle between their handles and bowls. Chinese ladles can be bought cheaply in good Chinese supermarkets.

Perforated ladle

Used in most professional Chinese kitchens for removing ingredients from cooking oil or water, this can be bought in Chinese stores. A slotted spoon can be used instead.

Bamboo-handled strainer

Available in good Chinese supermarkets, this is ideal for removing ingredients from deep-frying oil.

Bamboo or wooden chopsticks

Used for moving ingredients around in oil or water—to make sure they don’t stick to one another—and for tasting. Long-handled cooking chopsticks or regular wooden or bamboo chopsticks can be used.

Clockwise from top left:
Bamboo-handled strainer and long chopsticks used for deep-frying; steaming in a wok with a wok rack, a dish to hold food and a wok lid; wok scoop and ladle, both used for stir-frying; using a bamboo steamer in a wok.

Wok brush

A bamboo brush is useful for scrubbing out a hot wok between dishes. If you don’t have one, use a scrubbing brush with natural bristles (synthetic bristles might easily melt on the hot wok surface).

Wok lid

This is useful for boiling and simmering and essential to cover the dish if you intend to use your wok as a steamer (see the picture
here
).

Wok rack

A rack quickly transforms your wok into a steamer. It can also be used to hold food that will be smoked in the wok, over smouldering tea leaves. However, there are other ways to make your own stands from cans or chopsticks (tap
here
), so a rack is not essential.

Wok stand

Needed to keep a round-bottomed wok stable when boiling, steaming or deep-frying. Portable stands can be bought in Chinese supermarkets. They are also handy for holding a wok on a countertop when not in use.

Bamboo steamer

Layered bamboo steamers that fit into your wok can be bought cheaply in Chinese supermarkets. Metal steamers can also be used. Take care not to put a cold metal wok lid over a plateful of uncovered food in a steamer, or condensation will drip back on to the food, diluting its natural juices (simply allow the lid to heat in the steam before you place a dish in the steamer). I normally use a steamer that is 11 inches in diameter, sufficient for most purposes, including steaming a medium-sized fish; I also have a 14 inch steamer for larger fish.

Oil (or sugar) thermometer

Invaluable for deep-frying, to ensure the oil has reached a sufficiently high temperature.

OTHER EQUIPMENT

Chinese cleaver

You can use any kitchen knives for Chinese cooking but a cleaver, once you have grown used to it, is invaluable. A Chinese cleaver is much lighter than a butcher’s chopper and surprisingly dexterous. It is suitable not only for cutting up large pieces of food, but also for slicing ginger and garlic. The flat side of its blade can be used to smack ginger to release its fragrance, as well as to scoop up cut ingredients. In fact, a cleaver is usually the only knife in a Chinese home kitchen. Cleavers must be kept very sharp, so they are normally sold alongside whetstones. A typical cleaver blade is 8–9 inches long and 3–4 inches wide, and made from stainless steel. Carbon steel blades are easier to sharpen, but need oiling to prevent rust. The blade of a regular kitchen cleaver may be damaged if you use it to chop bones. For this, ask your butcher to help, or buy a second, heavier cleaver.

Whetstone

Sold with cleavers. They normally have coarse- and fine-grained sides (tap
here
).

Measuring spoons

Extremely useful for measuring seasonings accurately.

Rolling pin

You will need this to make your own dumpling wrappers. Chinese rolling pins, which can be found in Chinese shops, are thin and have tapered ends.

Electric rice cooker

If you intend to cook Chinese food on a regular basis, an electric rice cooker is a wise investment. With a rice cooker, you simply measure your rice and water, press a button and relax in the knowledge that your rice will be cooked perfectly and kept hot until you serve it. This means you can devote all your attention to the accompanying dishes. Most rice cookers come with a perforated plastic shelf that can be placed above the rice, so you can steam a little dishful of other food at the same time. Some have a second setting for making perfect congee.

Little bowls and saucers

It is extremely useful to have a few little saucers and bowls around to hold measured ingredients that are ready for the wok. Finely chopped garlic and ginger can be laid out on a little dish and sauces mixed up in bowls. Little saucers can also be used to serve dips for dumplings and other foods.

Serving dishes

You don’t need special serving dishes for Chinese food, but it helps to have a selection of different sizes, including a deep bowl for soups and a large oval platter for a whole fish.

Clockwise from top left:
A Chinese cleaver; sharpening a cleaver on a whetstone; using a cleaver for horizontal cutting (tap
here
); using a cleaver for vertical cutting (tap
here
).

CUTTING

Cutting is the first basic skill of the Chinese kitchen. Almost all ingredients are cut into small pieces, partly because of the use of chopsticks, and partly because of the widespread use of stir-frying. Stir-frying demands fine, regular cutting, so ingredients cook quickly and evenly. There’s also an aesthetic aspect, as any dish looks far more beautiful if the ingredients are evenly cut.

Any kind of sharp knife can be used, but a cleaver is ideal. Grasp the handle firmly in your right hand (if you are right-handed), and use your index finger to steady the blade. Use your other hand to hold the ingredients. For safety, curl your fingers so the knuckles rest against the blade and your fingertips are tucked away. Always position your thumb behind your fingers and away from the knife.

If you are making a meal that includes last-minute stir-fries, have your ingredients ready to go before you begin: main ingredients neatly cut and marinated, sauces mixed, and bottles of seasonings at the ready. If you are chopping garlic, ginger or spring onions for three different dishes, prepare them all at the same time. Have serving dishes on hand, so you don’t have to scramble around the kitchen when each dish is ready.

Enjoy your preparation. I find the cutting for a Chinese meal has a gentle, meditative quality, and calms me after a busy day. It’s pleasing, too, to have ingredients cut and laid out on boards when guests arrive.

Basic cutting techniques

Vertical cutting (
qie
): Hold the knife perpendicular to the board; cut in an up-and-down motion (tap
here
).

Horizontal cutting (
pian
): Hold the knife parallel to the board and ease it into your ingredient (tap
here
).

Basic cutting shapes

A vast vocabulary describes the shapes into which food can be cut. These are some of the most important:

1
| Thumbnail slices (
zhi jia pian
). Just one of many types of slices. Others include thick “domino slices” and broad, thin “ox-tongue” slices.

2
| Slivers or “silken threads” (
si
). Cut spring onions into short sections, then into slivers. Cut other ingredients, such as ginger, into slices, then lay them in a row, overlapping each other, and cut into slivers.

3
| “Horse ears” (
ma’er duo
).Hold your knife at an angle to long ingredients such as spring onions, and cut into thin slices that resemble horses’ ears.

4
| Spring onion “flowers,” or finely sliced spring onions (
cong hua
). Cut the greens across into very thin slices.

5
| Finely chopped garlic and ginger, or “rice grains” (
mo
or
mi li
). For ginger, cut into slices, then into slivers, and finally into fine grains. For garlic, slice, then chop into tiny pieces.

6
| Smacked ginger. Smack unpeeled ginger with the flat of a blade to release its juices.

7
| Roll-cut chunks (
gun dao kuai
). A fantastic way of cutting vegetables into chunks with the greatest possible surface area. Hold your knife at an angle to your vegetable, and cut a thick slice. Then roll the vegetable a quarter turn away, and cut another thick slice. Continue.

8
| Strips (
tiao
). Cut into thick slices, and then into strips.

9
| Small cubes (
ding
). Cut your ingredient into thick slices, then strips, and finally small cubes.

Freezing

Freezing meat or poultry for a couple of hours makes cutting thin slices or slivers much easier.

Mandolin

Cheap to buy in Japanese shops, and used to cut crisp vegetables, such as carrot, into thin slices and slivers.