Beat the Clock

“In 15 minutes, I can get a whole meal done,” says Rosa Zee.

Often, that’s all the time she has. Rosa, a member of the board of the San Marino Unified School District, is president of the Chinese Arts Council of the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and a museum docent; until a few months ago, she ran a flower shop.

The kitchen at the Zees’ spacious Pasadena house operates in two shifts. Rosa steps in first to cook a quick dinner for her son, Oliver, 16. Then her mother-in-law, Sou Heng Zee, takes over to prepare a traditional Chinese dinner for the rest of the family.

Although Rosa Zee and her mother-in-law were both born in Shanghai, their cooking styles differ radically. Rosa relies on the freezer, the microwave oven and the broiler--appliances foreign to many Chinese cooks. She buys big sacks of frozen vegetables and fruit and seasons her dishes with commercial Chinese sauces, the kind lined up by the dozens in Asian markets.

Sou Heng Zee, on the other hand, is accustomed to cooking food fresh each day and from scratch. If anything needs reheating, she steams it rather than using the microwave.

The beneficiary of both styles is Rosa’s husband, Chi-Shing Zee, chief of the neuroradiology division of the radiology department at USC School of Medicine.

Oliver gets a separate meal because he’s a hearty meat-eating teen and doesn’t like dainty stir-fry slivers. Another son, Edward, is away at college; Rosa has taught him simple quick cooking to keep him from eating starchy junk food.

Although Rosa takes shortcuts, she aims at true Chinese taste. This is how she does it.

A fast meal for Oliver might include chicken thighs, Chinese-style; green beans with black bean and garlic sauce, and steamed rice. For dessert, Rosa might make a blender shake using frozen fruit, juice, milk and ice.

She takes the chicken straight from the freezer and thaws it in the microwave. Then she mixes it with soy sauce and Mandarin jah-jan sauce, a Taiwanese import that contains tofu, soybean paste and chile sauce. Next she broils the chicken until the edges are browned and crisp--the same look that a conventional Chinese cook might get by deep-frying. Not only has Rosa avoided using oil, she has also avoided dishwashing. She broils the chicken on a sheet of foil on a foil pie plate, then simply discards the foil and juices.

Rosa also thaws the green beans in the microwave, then adds soy sauce and black bean garlic sauce and microwaves them just 3 minutes. She points out that northern Chinese cook vegetables longer than Cantonese, who prefer a rapid stir-fry and crisp texture. Longer cooking--if you can call a few minutes in the microwave long--allows the flavor of the sauce to permeate the beans more deeply, she says.

Rosa also uses the microwave to reheat rice cooked in one of two rice-cookers that stand on the kitchen counter. Using her trademark metal cooking chopsticks, she organizes the chicken, beans and rice into a handsome plate of food. The meat is succulent, and the beans taste as authentically Chinese as if they had just come from a wok.

ROSA ZEE’S MENU FOR ONE

Broiled Crispy Chicken

Green Beans with Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Rice

Mixed Fruit Shake

BROILED CRISPY CHICKEN

Jah-jan sauce is popular in northern China and is typically eaten with boiled noodles, Rosa says. If you have the time, marinate the chicken for half an hour before broiling.

2 medium boneless skinless chicken thighs

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon Mandarin jah-jan sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dash sugar, optional

If chicken is frozen, thaw in microwave. Line pie pan with foil. Place chicken on foil in single layer. Season with soy sauce, then jah-jan sauce. Sprinkle with salt. Add sugar. Broil 15 minutes, until browned and crisp on top. Turn over and brown bottom side, about 5 minutes longer.

Makes 1 serving.

Each serving contains about:

257 calories; 1,182 mg sodium; 100 mg cholesterol; 18 grams fat; 0 carbohydrates; 22 grams protein; 0 fiber.

GREEN BEANS WITH BLACK BEAN GARLIC SAUCE

Because she may not cook every day, Rosa buys frozen rather than fresh green beans to avoid spoilage.

1 cup frozen cut green beans

3/4 teaspoon soy sauce

3/4 teaspoon bottled black bean garlic sauce

Place frozen beans in microwave-safe bowl. Cover generously with water. Microwave on high, uncovered, 4 to 5 minutes, until half cooked. Drain beans. Return to dish. Add soy sauce and black bean garlic sauce and mix well. Cook on high, uncovered, 1 1/2 minutes. Stir. Cook 1 1/2 minutes longer or until beans are soft and have absorbed flavor of the sauces.

Makes 1 serving.

Each serving contains about:

50 calories; 406 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.42 grams fiber.

MIXED FRUIT SHAKE

1 cup mixed frozen fruit

1/2 cup chipped ice

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup orange or pineapple juice

As a variation, Rosa may substitute ice cream for milk or use nonfat dry milk blended with water instead of regular fluid milk.

Thaw fruit in microwave on defrost, 3 to 4 minutes. Place fruit in blender container. Add ice, milk and juice. Blend thoroughly. Serve at once.

Makes 1 serving.

Each serving contains about:

110 calories; 34 mg sodium; 5 mg cholesterol; 1 gram fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 1.24 grams fiber.