Chinese Food: inexpensive, nutritious, delicious... and fun!

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Nor will you need the most expensive equipment. A couple of cleavers (light and heavy) and a chopping block (Chinese chefs use a 6" or 8"-thick section of tree trunk) will do the job just fine. I have only one cleaver and my cutting board is a 2" X 12" X 1 S" piece of scrap pine I got from a lumber yard for 25¢. I certainly don't imagine that I know anything about how to "really" chop the ingredients I use but I have fun making full-length cuts, diagonal slices, dices and other cuts appropriate to the dish I'm preparing.

As I mentioned earlier, meats are most easily thin-sliced while still partially frozen. Remove them from the freezer only ten or fifteen minutes before slicing, then allow the slices to thaw completely while the vegetables and sauces are being prepared. It's a good idea to dry the thawed pieces of meat with a paper towel to keep them from splattering when dropped into hot oil. If too much water is present, the meat may even stew instead of fry . . . so blot that meat dry.

Washed vegetables tend to lose vitamins in the refrigerator and should be stored unwashed . . . then rinsed and scrubbed just prior to cooking.

There are several ways to cook Chinese food but I primarily use just three:

(1) STIR-FRYING, OR QUICK COOKING OVER HIGH TEMPERATURE IN A WOK. This method of preparing food both preserves fuel and produces appetizing and nutritious meals. To stir-fry, the wok is first heated very hot, then oil is poured into the pan and heated very hot before—finally—the meat and vegetables are added and cooked for a quick five to ten minutes per dish. Although the actual cooking with this method is quite rapid, proper advance preparation of a stir-fried dish may take an hour. All ingredients must be ready and mixed beforehand and-once the cooking starts-there is no stopping and the food must not be overcooked. Books differ on whether the meat or vegetables should be fried first for any particular Chinese dish. I'm not an expert, so I just follow each recipe as it directs.

(2) STEWING, OR SLOW COOKING IN A SAUCE. Stewing is much less hectic than stir-frying and can be used to cook whole chickens, fish or shrimp and cut-up poultry, seafood, beef or pork. The process is simply a matter of preparing the sauce and cooking for the prescribed time.

(3) DEEP FRYING, WHICH IS SIMILAR TO WESTERN DEEP FRYING AND WHICH, ALSO, CAN BE DONE IN THE WOK. A mixture of flour and cornstarch called tempura is used for a batter in Chinese deep frying and tempura can either be purchased or made at home. A wok seems to be an especially good container for deep frying since it requires less oil and provides a more even heat than any other pot or pan.

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