Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories (6 page)

In 2001, the average Beijing resident consumed 77 pounds of cabbage.
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As a comparison, the highest ever consumption of cabbage in the US was in the 1920s (22 pounds per capita); the 2003 estimate was 7. 5 pounds.
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When I was first in Beijing the government still handed out free supplies of cabbage in urban areas, organizing blue ‘Liberation’ trucks to rumble in from the countryside so that people could fill their courtyards and balconies with enough to see them through the winter. In 1989 the supply outstripped demand and the government urged people to eat up the stocks, earning Beijing’s favourite vegetable the name of ‘patriotic cabbage’. The outsides sometimes got frostbitten, but the tight-packed leaves inside remained crisp and fresh for months. Young,comparatively affluent people like my teacher Hong Yun were slightly embarrassed by this state generosity, seeing the cabbage as a reminder of an unhappy past, but I saw how many old folk and families were grateful for the gift. And there is no doubt that most Chinese people like cabbage – as would most people if they knew how best to cook it.

The Chinese name
bai cai
means ‘white vegetable’, and the ubiquitous
da bai cai
(big cabbage) is light in colour. But Chinese chefs can also choose from
xiao bai cai
(small cabbage),
yuan bai cai
(round cabbage),
Shanghai bai cai
(Shanghai cabbage),
naiyou bai cai
(milk cabbage) and
ta cai
(rosette cabbage). And there are a host of other greens:
you cai
(rape vegetable), the amusingly named
jimao cai
(chicken feather vegetable),
tong hao
and
haozi ganr
(Chrysanthemum leaves),
you mai cai
and
gan
lan,
which have no Western names to my knowledge, and various types of spinach and watercress too. While I have not seen many of the more esoteric varieties for sale in the West other than in ethnic stores, we have picked shoots of wild rape from our local farmer’s field after the major crop (which is used as animal fodder) has been harvested. Chinese leaves are pretty commonplace in the West and the popular ‘sweetheart cabbage’ is similar to the Chinese round cabbage in its cooking qualities.
Xiao bai cai
is increasingly available in supermarkets, sold under the Cantonese pronunciation of its name,
pak choy
. In the spirit of Chinese cooking, though, I have used many of our alternative brassicas and leafy greens, including curly kale and good old greens, in Chinese-style dishes.

While only a handful of the vegetable varieties that are enjoyed in China are readily available in the West, the truth is that what you may or not be able to buy is not a fraction as important as what you are able do with it. All the white cabbage varieties are greatly enhanced by a touch of ginger and chilli or sweet and sour seasonings. Dried chilli spices up both the green and the white types and can also be used with Western spring greens or kale. Cabbage needs to be well cooked, until the leaves wilt, but overcooking makes the flavour too strong. Cumin can add a depth of flavour and helps digestion.

Stir-fried cabbage in China is often complemented by reconstituted dried Shitake mushrooms or wood-ear fungus. To this strips of pork may be added, but with cabbage they should not be coated in cornflour or flour as this would clog up the clear sauce that seeps out of the cabbage leaves. Peeled chestnuts go very well with white cabbage varieties, especially with a touch of sugar and vinegar.

Chinese cabbage with red chilli

(La bai cai)

This dish is best made with the large cabbage usually sold as ‘Chinese leaves’ and sometimes as ‘Peking cabbage’ in the West, but other types of cabbage can be used. In the winter these cabbages are piled up in almost every courtyard and balcony, so this is the Chinese equivalent of a ‘store cupboard’ dish.

1 small Chinese cabbage (about 500 g/1 lb)
2 dried red chillies, roughly chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp finely chopped spring onion
1 tsp vinegar
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt or to taste

Chop the cabbage into pieces of about 2 cm (1 in) square. Using gloves, crumble the dried chillies. Heat the wok, add the oil and heat to a medium heat. Throw in the chillies and let them sizzle but not burn.

Turn up the heat and add the cabbage, ginger and spring onion. Toss and fry, keeping the cabbage moving so that it cooks quickly and evenly (long handled chopsticks are best for this task). As the cabbage starts to soften, add the vinegar and sugar and stir-fry for another minute. Add the soy sauce and the salt, stir, turn down the heat, and simmer for another minute or so ( liquid should seep out from the cabbage at this stage, creating a moist and flavoursome dish). Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Mushrooms are another vegetable whose potential is not always fully tapped in the West. For many people the white button variety is synonymous with the whole species and is often relegated to the role of a garnish in cooked breakfasts or used in soups and sauces. Chinese markets have whole stalls devoted to different varieties. The most common is
xiang gu
(fragrant mushrooms), a delicacy in the West where they are known by their Japanese name, Shitake. Freshly picked and piled high they take their place along with oyster mushrooms, straw mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms and an amazing species known as ‘chicken leg’ because that is exactly what they look like. There are also separate stalls devoted to dried mushrooms (of which Shitake is the best known) and fungus of all shapes and sizes that promise a sensational flavour experience. Studies show that Shitake mushrooms may have anti-cancer properties. Keen to benefit, adventurous Western cooks are adding a few to risottos or mushroom soup, but the cost of using them in any quantity is prohibitive. Yet mushroom recipes abound in Chinese cooking. One of the simplest ways that Shitake mushrooms are served is stewed with ginger and soy sauce as a dish in their own right. TheYunnan region in the south-west is renowned for its mixed fresh mushroom stir-fries, the north-east uses dried varieties heavily in stews and hot pots. The most expensive and best quality dried mushrooms, large
dong gu
(winter mushrooms) are used in a recipe with slices of large winter bamboo shoots in a dish called
chao
er dong
(‘stir-fried two winters’).

More and more mushroom varieties are becoming available in the West; in particular I love the large field mushrooms. Don’t wait till you find a recipe for a specific variety; as with cabbage, the different types are quite interchangeable – or you can cook several types together. Mushrooms are very quick to prepare and suitable for any meal occasion. I stir-fry them with onions and herbs and serve them on toast, in an omelette, with rice or pasta or with a green vegetable such as asparagus, spinach or green beans – and they are delicious curried with lentils, or topped with a creamy paprika sauce, or with breadcrumbs and herbs. Garlic, of course, is a natural partner for all mushroom varieties, though ginger works well, too.

How to ‘eat your greens’

The Chinese are adept at turning simple vegetables into taste-filled dishes. The simple bromide ‘eat your greens’ has echoed down the generations in the West, but leafy green vegetables are also among the worst victims of bad or excessive cooking, all too often added to a meal as an afterthought and eaten in sufferance. Pay them the attention they deserve, however, and they will respond to even simple treatment with delicious flavours.

One of the most common ways that Chinese chefs cook simple green leafy vegetables (including lettuce) is
suan rong
, with minced garlic. The wok is heated and a good tablespoon of oil added. Then the vegetables are thrown in and tossed about until the leaves begin to wilt. A sprinkling of salt and as many as six cloves of minced garlic are added and mixed thoroughly. More fibrous vegetables, such as broccoli florets, can also be cooked in this way but they need to be blanched first: the pieces are thrown into a pan of boiling water, brought back to the boil, then drained. Ideally, the drained vegetable is plunged into ice-cold water before stir-frying; this helps to retain the bright green colour.

Braised mushrooms

Lu xiang gu

The word
lu
is often translated as ‘flavour potted’ and usually describes an aromatic broth in which the ingredients are marinated. In this instance, though, the broth is quick and simple to make – but delicious nevertheless. This dish is best served cold, though not chilled.

75 g/3 oz/¾ cup sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp oil
a few slices of ginger
1 tsp light soy sauce
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt (or to taste)
pinch of white pepper (optional)
warm water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped coriander

Soak the mushrooms overnight (or, if you forget, 15 minutes in boiling water will do). When they are soft, cut off the stalks then check the underneath for any small particles of grit and rub clean. Rinse and drain.

Heat the oil in the wok to a medium temperature. Fry the mushrooms with the ginger pieces until they change colour. Add the soy sauce, sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Pour in just enough water to cover the mushrooms. Simmer for five minutes or so, topping up the water if necessary, until the mushrooms are plump and soft.

Turn off the heat, add the sesame oil and mix gently. Allow to cool. When ready to serve, arrange the mushrooms cap side up on a plate and tip any remaining sauce over the top. Garnish with chopped coriander.

‘White’ vegetables

Similarly, ‘white’ vegetables like potatoes or courgettes do not have to be thought of as bland or uniform foods. Chinese chefs manage to make some of the least interesting vegetables into the most tasty of dishes. Potatoes, courgettes and daikon (white) radish, for example are shredded into matchsticks then tossed in the wok over a very high heat with ginger and spring onions, Sichuan peppercorns, and/or crumbled dried red chilli, sugar and vinegar, a splash of soy sauce and a pinch of salt. Cumin can work well with the radish too, as it does with cabbage. After the first few thorough tosses, the heat is turned down and the liquid seeps out of the vegetables to form a delicious sauce with all the nutrients still in place. Salt is always added last; otherwise it can spoil the colour of the dish and detract from, rather than enhance, the flavour.

Delicate flavours

Some vegetables are prized in China for their own delicate tastes, and these are served freshly cooked and very lightly seasoned. Bamboo shoots, which are available in many different shapes and sizes depending on the time of year they are picked, are particularly treasured. Fresh water chestnuts and baby corn need little additional seasoning. Bear this in mind if you have access to freshly picked ingredients; a sprinkling of salt and a good quality oil may be all that you need to bring out their intrinsic qualities.

In Chinese cooking the oil carries the flavour while the salt, added tactically at the last moment, along with other seasonings, adds the depth of taste needed to let the vegetables carry the meal. If you begin to eat lightly cooked vegetables on the scale that they are consumed in China, and let them replace the processed and prepared foods in your diet, you won’t need to concern yourself with your fat and salt intakes – believe me.

Chinese people have based meals around vegetables for thousands of years and have perfected the art of cooking them. Not a meal is served without steaming great plates of freshly picked and freshly cooked greens (and lots of other colours too). As we have seen, you can follow Chinese recipes to enliven your vegetables, or use more familiar methods to make them into dishes your own way. Every cuisine has its share of vegetable recipes, it is just that they are too often included in cookbooks as an afterthought, and our Western mindset regards them as such. Following the restaurant tradition, cookbooks tend to deal with the various animal species first, then perhaps look at eggs and cheese and finally bring in the greens. Sometimes vegetable recipes are so simple that they are not taken seriously. But everyone appreciates a lightly seasoned tender steak, so why not give the same consideration to asparagus, carrots or even cabbage?