Expert Divulges Intricacies of Chinese Cooking

The year of the snake starts Monday. Some refer to it more delicately as the year of the serpent. And according to Chinese cooking authority Fu Pei-Mei, a still smarter name is the year of the small dragon, dragon being a far more auspicious sign than the lowly viper.

While here on a rare visit from her home in Taipei, Taiwan, Pei-Mei gave four cooking demonstrations, two for Chinese-speaking audiences, one for Chinese chefs and one in English. All took place at the Los Angeles Midtown Hilton.

What the Chinese serve for New Year varies according to region, she said. Pei Mei’s demonstrations were not geared toward the holiday, but she did present regional specialties that would make interesting fare for a celebration next week.

Diced chicken with peppers and garlic is from Hunan, while fried prawns dressed with mayonnaise is a Cantonese dish well known in Taiwan and Hong Kong, she said. Sweet and sour fish from Shanghai is scored to produce an interesting pattern when fried. The fish is garnished with pine nuts, which are soaked in sugar water before frying to make them slightly sweet. A cheese-topped casserole of mixed vegetables in crab sauce comes from Taiwan. And the dessert is a Beijing specialty, deep-fried morsels of firm custard sprinkled with crushed peanuts blended with sugar.

In Taiwan, Pei Mei heads Pei Mei’s Chinese Cooking Institute and conducts a daily television cooking show. She has written 13 cookbooks, some of which are available in Chinatown bookshops here. And she is preparing a new series of books based on cooking techniques. These will be in Chinese only. “There are 28 kinds of cooking methods, and it’s very difficult to translate the names of the methods into English,” she explained. Here are her recipes.

DICED CHICKEN HUNAN STYLE

1 pound boneless chicken meat

2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch blended with 1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon wine

1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 cups oil

1 cup diced green and sweet red peppers

3 tablespoons sliced garlic cloves

1 tablespoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Place chicken in bowl. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce and cornstarch mixture. Mix well and let stand 20 minutes. Combine remaining soy sauce, wine and 1 teaspoon cornstarch and set aside.

Heat wok until very hot. Add oil and heat to 350 degrees. Add chicken and fry until meat is no longer pink. Remove chicken and drain off oil. Reheat 2 tablespoons oil in wok. Add peppers and garlic and stir-fry quickly. Add chicken and stir-fry 10 seconds, or until done. Add reserved soy sauce mixture and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle vinegar and sesame oil on top. Remove from heat at once. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

SWEET AND SOUR FISH WITH PINE NUTS

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons pine nuts

Oil

1 (2-pound) whole fish

1 tablespoon wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

Oil

Flour

Batter

Seasoning Sauce

1/2 cup diced onion

1/2 cup diced tomato

2 tablespoons green peas

Combine water and sugar in small saucepan. Bring to boil. Remove from heat, add pine nuts and soak 2 hours. Drain. Heat 1 cup oil in wok over low heat. Add nuts and fry 3 to 4 minutes, until light brown. Drain and reserve.

Clean fish. Remove head and reserve. Fillet fish, removing center bone but leaving fillets attached at tail. Do not remove skin. Cut 3 quarter-inch-deep parallel slashes lengthwise on flesh side of each fillet. Make crosswise slashes 1/2 inch apart, cutting diagonally into fish. Shake fish lightly, and flesh will separate into squares attached at base. Sprinkle with wine and salt and let stand 10 minutes.

Heat oil for deep frying in wok. Sprinkle fish with flour, then dip in Batter. Hold by tail and dip in and out of oil several times, then submerge fish in oil and fry until golden brown. Remove to platter. Dip reserved fish head in Batter and fry until golden brown. Reassemble fish on platter.

Drain oil. Reheat 2 tablespoons oil in wok. Add Seasoning Sauce, onion, tomato and peas. Cook until mixture thickens, then pour over fish. Sprinkle fish with pine nuts and serve at once. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Batter

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Beat egg in small bowl and add water. Beat in flour and cornstarch until smooth.

Seasoning Sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

2/3 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons water

1/4 cup catsup

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon wine

1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Combine cornstarch and salt in bowl. Gradually blend in water, then add catsup, vinegar, sugar, wine, soy sauce and sesame oil.

CRISPY PRAWNS WITH MAYONNAISE

15 large shrimp

1/2 egg white

1 teaspoon wine

1/3 teaspoon salt

Cornstarch

1/3 cup water

5 cups oil

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Shredded lettuce

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Remove heads and shells from shrimp but leave tails attached. Remove veins. Split each shrimp lengthwise down back but do not cut through. Clean and dry. Marinate 10 minutes in mixture of egg white, wine, salt and 1 tablespoon cornstarch.

Mix 1/2 cup cornstarch and water to form paste. Heat oil in wok. Dip each shrimp in cornstarch mixture and twist to form loose roll. Add to wok and fry lightly. Remove from wok and separate shrimp that have stuck together. Return to wok and fry until golden brown. Place fried shrimp in large bowl. Drizzle with mayonnaise and shake bowl to mix. Place on lettuce-lined platter and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

ASSORTED VEGETABLES WITH CRAB SAUCE

2 pounds napa cabbage

Oil

Salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 slice ginger root, minced

1 green onion, minced

1/2 cup cooked crab meat

2 tablespoons cooked crab roe, optional

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons flour

10 mushrooms, halved and parboiled

15 ears baby corn, cut in half if large

10 slices carrot, parboiled

1 stalk broccoli, diagonally sliced and parboiled

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Clean and cut cabbage into 2x1/2-inch slices. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in wok. Add cabbage and stir fry until soft. Add 2/3 teaspoon salt and sugar. Cook until very tender. Drain cabbage and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in wok. Add ginger and green onion, then crab meat, crab roe, chicken stock, milk and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook until heated through. Remove to bowl. Clean wok. Add 1/4 cup oil and heat to about 260 degrees. Add flour and stir several seconds. Add crab-stock mixture and cook until heated and thickened. Remove half of sauce to bowl. Add cabbage, mushrooms, corn, carrot and broccoli to sauce remaining in wok. Mix well. Turn into baking dish or Chinese clay pot. Top with reserved sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered at 400 degrees 20 minutes, or until top is golden brown. Serve hot. Makes 8 servings.

Note: If desired, 2 tablespoons parboiled tiny carrot dice may be substituted for crab roe.

DEEP-FRIED CUSTARD PUDDING

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

5 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons evaporated milk

2 cups water

2/3 cup flour

1/2 cup cornstarch, about

Oil for deep frying

Crush peanuts very fine, mix with sugar and set aside. Beat eggs. Add milk, water and flour and mix to form smooth paste. Turn into wok and cook and stir over low heat until mixture boils and thickens. Turn off heat. (Mixture may be cooked in double boiler, if preferred.)

Lightly oil bottom of square or rectangular mold large enough to hold flour mixture in 1/2-inch thick layer. Pour mixture into mold and smooth evenly. Cool, then chill 2 hours. Invert pan over surface lightly coated with some of cornstarch. Cut flour mixture into small diamond shapes. Coat each with cornstarch and fry in deep hot oil until golden brown and crisp. Remove to plate and sprinkle with peanut sugar. Makes 6 servings.