Part Two : Chapter Six : Asia

Well, I thought the "Americas" chapter was long, but it was nothing compared to the 50-page chapter about all things Asian. I had to split the reading up between two days, but I still found a bit of redundancy in the chapter. All Asian food is definitely not alike, and each country, and region, has very different delicacies that I learned about but many of the areas have a lot of the same agriculture, resulting in repetitive explanations of the uses of, especially, rice and seafood.

Spices, of course, play a huge part in the cuisine of the Asian continent, but each country uses those spices in very different ways. Also, it seems as though the use of chiles did not appear until the Portuguese brought their influences to the continent, in the not-so-distant past. It also seems that each country has their own versions of different dishes, but the main theme seems to carry through each. For example, the practice of cooking one's own food at the table, in steaming pots of broth, is known as Mongolian hotpot in China, Shabu-Shabu in Japan, and Chongol in Korea.

Similarly, India and the Middle East seem to hold quite a few similarities including the use of the tandoor oven. Both cultures tend to cook their breads on the inside walls of the tandoor, with stews and curries cooking in the center. They use lots of rice, meats, nuts and aromatics to stuff larger vegetables and other meats.

The amount of information in this chapter was overwhelming, and I found myself skimming quite a few of the paragraphs, but I wanted to give you a very brief overview of this chapter. I could write for days and not include all the information I just soaked in by reading this chapter, but I talk about Asian cuisine so often in my posts that it would be redundant for me to start telling you everything again.

One thing that I did find interesting as a theme running through this chapter is the attention to detail that is given to meals in the Asian culture. In general, colors, textures and flavors are all taken into consideration before a meal is planned, and ingredients are chosen based on this criteria. Too often, we throw together a meal, not thinking about the aromas we'll smell before we even dig into the food, or how the colors on the plate will affect the way we feeling during the meal.

I know I always enjoy a meal more when it looks pretty!

China In A Day

Well, our journey continues tonight, and we've arrived in China. I decided to make a dish called Beef with Mandarin, and then pair it with some Chinese vegetables and hearty brown rice. It made for a simple weeknight meal that was totally satisfying. I would have expected a bit more citrus flavor from using the mandarin peels that the recipe called for, but it was a bit mild for my taste. I think I might actually add a bit of orange juice if I make this again, just to bring out the flavor some more. Chinese cooking varies across it's vast landscape. In the South, Cantonese cooking involves steaming and stir-frying natural ingredients and incorporates lots of soy sauce, ginger and scallions. Peking cuisine, from the North, has a harsher climate, which results in hot pots, lots of dumplings, and of course, the famous Peking duck. Meanwhile, Szechwan food is bright with chillies and spices. And, in Shanghai, meats and fishes are braised slowly to create very rich dishes.

So, I gathered my ingredients and prepared my mise en place for tonight's dinner. I grabbed some rib eye steak, soy sauce, dry sherry, fresh ginger, sesame oil, peanut oil, white pepper, dried mandarin peel, caster sugar, corn starch and beef stock.  I prepped the marinade for the beef first, since it needed to sit and "stew" for 15 minutes before I could continue the process.

The mandarin peel is a weird little ingredient, let me just tell you. A very nice lady at the local Asian market helped me find it on the shelf on Monday, and I brought them home. I was having trouble interpreting to the shopkeeper and she spoke both Chinese and English. She came to my rescue! I took them out of the bag and well, they were really hard. The recipe calls for them to be finely chopped? I can't get my knife through it...nor could i get it to chop up in a mini food processor. Wait a minute...I missed something on the front of the bag. "Must boil for 10 minutes before using." Ah...that makes a bit of sense. I took care of that next so that I could have all my ingredients together. Check out the difference between the really hard mandarin peel, and the reconstitued one that was much easier to chop!

My mise en place is now complete!

I heated some peanut oil in a wok and then added the beef with its marinade. Once all the beef was almost cooked through, with a nice bit of color on it, I added the white pepper, chopped mandarin peel, some soy sauce and caster sugar. In another bowl, I combined the cornstarch with a bit of the beef stock, and once it was incorporated, I added the rest of the broth to the bowl. This acted as the thickening agent for the sauce. After the beef and other ingredients had stir-fried briefly, I added the broth mixture to the wok and stirred until the sauce boiled and thickened. You'll know it when this happens so don't take it off the heat too soon, or you'll have a watery mess.

I served this dish over some brown rice, and I was glad that I opted to make the Chinese greens as well. I would have been craving a veggie if I hadn't. As it was, this was a very balanced and hearty meal for a weeknight. It came together rather quickly, and it was quite simple to prepare! I find that when I do make Chinese food at home, it usually comes together quickly, and can be a great quick fix if you keep all the spices and sauces on hand. My pantry is never without soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil or peanut oil...they are staples of Asian cooking...and I do a lot of that! So, next time you crave Chinese take-out, think twice...and give it a whirl for yourself. You'll get a healthier, heartier meal, and I promise you'll be full for longer!