How to Feed a Cold : Ginger, Spice and Everything Rice

Food is medicine in Chinese cooking--and has been for a couple of millennia. Every ingredient has been assigned a medicinal or, at least, a healthful property, mostly through centuries of empirical observation. So have the “recipes” that combine them, and even the methods used to cook them.

The first Chinese cookbooks were medicinal treatises, and the recipes treated various diseases. One of the earliest known, called “Fifty-Two Ailments,” dates to 170 B.C. In fact, the Chinese word for recipe first referred to medicinal potions, and they employed popular cooking techniques--steaming, poaching, boiling, frying, roasting, fermenting and smoking.

Hot-and-sour soup, a culinary classic, is essentially an old doctor’s prescription thought excellent against colds. In the Chinese view, the chicken stock is spiced by the “hot” of white pepper, which invigorates the system, flushes the sinuses and generally combats cold-type diseases. Tree ear mushrooms and day lily buds improve circulation. Dried black mushrooms strengthen immunity. The vinegar cleanses the system, and so on.

The idea of a “cold” disease itself is one of the founding tenets of Chinese medicine, which views health as a balance of yin and yang, cold and hot (also dampness and dryness). In this view, a cold is when your body is in a yin state. You lack yang--heat and energy. You’re run down and have the symptoms we associate with a cold: congestion and a runny nose.

The hot/cold and wet/dry oppositions also dominated Western medicine for almost 2,000 years. Ancient Greek physicians believed that disease resulted from an imbalance of four bodily fluids called “humors.” The phlegmatic humor was cold and moist, for instance, and its opposite, the choleric, was hot and dry. When you had a cold, it was because you had too much (cold, moist) phlegm.

To put it simply, the notion of a “cold” has been beaten into us and is hard to shake. In spite of the discovery that colds and similar illnesses are spread by bacteria and viruses and have nothing to do with the weather, we still behave like our mothers, warning our kids away from chilly, damp environments and chasing them around with hat and coat, lest they “catch cold.” (The English word cold does not refer to medical ideas such as the humors or yin but to the fact that the illness does not involve a high temperature.)

Since neither Western nor Eastern medicine has found a “cure” for the common cold, by turning to the Chinese you can at least find culinary comfort with foods that have been tested by billions of people over thousands of years.

What the ancient cold sufferer got, for one thing, was chicken soup in all its manifestations. Made with nothing but water and chicken, and occasionally a piece of ginger or scallion, such a soup, according to the Chinese, could effectively fight a cold.

Earlier than this, however, was the use of the soothing rice gruel known as jook or congee , which has a chicken stock base. The rice kernels explode to produce a thick, nourishing and highly digestible liquid. In fact, rice was probably cooked to this thick, liquid consistency long before it was served in the steamy mound of pearl-white grains we know today. This rice porridge was a favored medium for ingesting various medicinal herbs and foodstuffs in ancient Chinese cookbooks. It’s not only soothingly nourishing but can be served to anyone, from babies to the very old.

Various teas made of hot water and herbs are also typical cold remedies. Ginger, a yang ingredient, is commonly used because it reputedly heats the system and is thought to speed up the cycle of a cold. Brews can also be made from both ginger and scallions infused with either hot water or chicken stock.

Where Chinese medicinal principles are echoed in Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, the ginger relative, galangal, is used in place of its cousin in both food and medicine. The Thais use a mixture of grated galangal and lime juice in combatting colds.

RICE PORRIDGE WITH CHICKEN 1 (3- to 4-pound) whole chicken Boiling water 14 cups water 1 1/2 cups rice 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup sliced green onions 1 cup cilantro leaves 1 cup hair-like shreds ginger 1/2 cup light Chinese soy sauce 1/2 cup Chinese or Japanese sesame oil Freshly ground white pepper

Plunge whole chicken into pot of boiling water and blanch 2 minutes. Remove chicken, drain and rinse. Refill pot with 14 cups cold water and add rice.

Bring to boil, then add chicken. When water comes to boil again, turn heat to simmer and cover, leaving small opening for steam to vent. Simmer 35 to 45 minutes, depending on size of chicken. Remove chicken to platter to catch liquids. Leave rice simmering.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from breast, thighs and drumsticks, and return bones and skin to pot. Continue to simmer rice until thick, rich porridge results, about another 2 hours.

When done, remove bones and skin with tongs or slotted spoon and discard. Shred chicken meat by hand, or cut and arrange on plate. Serve congee surrounded by shredded chicken and garnishes of green onions, cilantro and ginger. Each eater should season porridge to taste with soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper, taking care to use soy sauce and sesame oil very sparingly. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about: 691 calories; 2,044 mg sodium; 116 mg cholesterol; 42 grams fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 35 grams protein; 0.47 gram fiber.

FRESH GINGER TEA WITH BROWN SUGAR 4 cups water 12 (1/4-inch-thick) slices ginger root 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed Bring water to boil in saucepan.

Meanwhile smash ginger slices with mallet, cleaver, pot or other instrument and add to teapot. Pour in boiling water and allow to steep. Add brown sugar to pot or sweeten to taste individually in cups. Makes 4 servings.

Note: Some Asian markets sell Chinese brown sugar, which comes in 6-inch wedges in 1-pound packages or in bulk.

Each serving contains about: 38 calories; 3 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 0 protein; 0.06 gram fiber.

THAI HOT-AND-SOUR HERBAL BROTH 3 tablespoons peanut oil 6 slices fresh galangal or ginger root 8 cloves garlic, crushed 2 stalks lemon grass, bottom 4 inches, thinly sliced 1 tablespoon finely shredded lime zest 6 to 8 shallots, sliced 4 chiles, seeded and shredded 6 to 8 cups chicken stock, unsalted 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste 1 teaspoon sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce 1/4 cup fresh lemon or lime juice 1 cup cilantro leaves 1/4 cup thinly sliced Thai basil Shrimp, sliced chicken meat or fish

Heat oil in large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add galangal, garlic, lemon grass, lime zest, shallots and chiles and briefly saute. Add chicken stock. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes. Add salt, sugar and fish sauce. Continue to cook another few minutes. When ready to serve, add fresh lemon juice, cilantro and basil.

Add shrimp, chicken or fish and poach in soup until just done, just before serving. Makes 6 servings.

Note: Galangal root is available in Thai markets.

Each serving contains about: 142 calories; 1,743 mg sodium; 6 mg cholesterol; 8 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams protein; 0.71 gram fiber.