Читать книгу Ching’s Chinese Food in Minutes - Ching-He Huang - Страница 9
ОглавлениеThere is nothing more traditional in Chinese cooking than using the wok. This great invention has been used for centuries to help feed millions of people all over the world.
Woks come in various sizes and are made from different materials, and so when you come to buy one it can be rather challenging. Traditional cast-iron woks are quite heavy and require seasoning, which is not too difficult. The wok comes coated with a film of oil; wash this off using a sponge and washing up liquid, then dry the wok over a high flame on the stove. Next, add a little oil to the wok (sesame oil is good because it burns quickly) and then use absorbent kitchen paper to rub in the oil over the entire wok, giving it a darkened blackened effect. Once your wok is seasoned, don’t use a metal scourer or iron wool on it, as you will take off the seasoning.
For those who prefer a lighter wok, I would recommend one made from carbon steel, which you season in the same way as the cast-iron wok. If you are short of time, like me, buy a non-stick wok made from carbon steel—it will require less oil for cooking than a cast-iron wok, so is healthier, too.
When choosing your wok, make sure it feels comfortable and right for you. I prefer a one-handled wok with a medium handle that is not too thick to hold. In terms of size, choose a medium wok, between 30.5cm/12 inches and 40.5cm/16 inches in diameter, which will hold a medium-sized bamboo steamer comfortably and allow you to cook enough to serve at least four.
For those who don’t have a gas stove, I would say invest in a new cooker! I find that electric stoves are just not right for wok cooking—you can buy a flat-bottomed wok, but you never really get enough heat to cook the food. However, you could invest in a good electric wok, which I have used before and found not too bad.
Techniques for cooking in a wok
Stir-frying
The classic use for a wok—a touch of oil and lots of stirring ensure that the ingredients keep their crunch and take on a smoky flavour. To help you cook your dish to perfection, however, there are some things to observe.
1 Preparation
Do prepare all the ingredients in advance, because once you start cooking, you won’t have time to stop and start chopping. Cut all the meat or fish to the same size—this ensures that the pieces cook in the same time. This principle also applies to vegetables. For leafy vegetables, cut them on the diagonal—this exposes them to more heat in the wok and they will cook more rapidly.
2 Choosing the right oil
Most oils with a high heating point can be used, such as sunflower oil, groundnut oil and vegetable oil, but avoid sesame oil as this has a low heating point and burns quickly—use it for seasoning your dishes. Olive oil isn’t ideal because its flavour does not suit all Chinese dishes. It is best to use flavourless oil. My favourite is groundnut—it has a slight nutty aroma that is not strong enough to overpower a dish, but acts as a great base on which to create the layers of flavours.
3 The correct heat
To prepare the wok for stir-frying, heat it to a high heat, then add the oil and swirl it around in the wok. When the wok starts to smoke it’s ready to use.
During the cooking process, keep an eye on the flame and level of heat in the wok both before and after adding the food—the temperature in the wok will fall once the ingredients have been added so you want the heat high enough to sear the food, but not so high that you burn the ingredients.
4 Adding raw ingredients and timing
The ingredients should go into the wok in the following order. Add the Chinese essentials such as garlic, ginger and chillies first. Secondly, add the meat or seafood, and then, lastly, the vegetables, with a sprinkling of water to create steam. This order of cooking helps to retain the bite of the vegetables. It is important to dry the ingredients before you add them to the wok or the oil will spit, and if there is too much moisture the ingredients will stew rather than ‘fry’. If you are using sauces or meats marinated in sauces, don’t add the sauce or marinade until the end of the stir-frying process to ensure it doesn’t all evaporate, and to prevent stewing the food.
Sometimes the meat/protein is cooked and then removed from the wok while the vegetables are stir-fried. It is then returned to the wok for the final mixing with seasoning. I find that you don’t always have to cook in this way (as recipes vary), and there are some dishes where you can add the meat/protein after the garlic, ginger and chillies and then, once they start to cook, you can add the rest of the ingredients; this helps to ensure the meat/protein is not overly cooked.
5 Adding cooked ingredients
Cooked noodles or cooked rice can be added to the wok at the end of the cooking process and combined with the rest of the ingredients together with all the seasoning.
Steaming
Food cooked in a bamboo steamer takes on a subtle bamboo fragrance. This technique is a wonderful way of preparing a healthy meal; it’s fast and fun, too. You can also serve your food in the steamer, with the lid on; this helps to keep the food warm for longer.
1 Make sure the wok is stable
If you are cooking on a gas stove, invest in a wok rest; this helps to keep the wok secure.
2 Filling the wok with water
Fill the wok half full with water and place the bamboo steamer over the top, making sure the water in the wok does not touch the base of the steamer. Depending on the recipe, either place the food to be steamed directly in the steamer or on a heatproof plate, bowl or rack that fits inside the steamer, raised above the water. Put the lid on and steam. If necessary, top up the wok with more boiling water as the food cooks.
3 Size of the bamboo steamer
Bamboo steamers vary in size, so make sure that you buy one that sits snugly across the wok and will not touch the water when this is added. For those who love to cook a feast, you can pile the steamers on as high as you want (although you will need a powerful flame that can produce enough steam to reach the highest steamer; I would say up to three piled high should be okay).
4 A final tip
Before you attempt to take the lid off the steamer, make sure that you always turn the flame off under the wok. I have been impatient many times and have burnt my hands and arms in the hot steam.
Deep-frying
You might think this not a very healthy way of cooking, but if the oil is hot enough, once the food is dropped in it will cook at such a high temperature that the outside edges are almost ‘sealed’, not allowing the ingredient to absorb any more oil, and the high heat continues to cook the inside of the food.
1 Make sure the wok is stable
Again, if you are cooking on a gas stove, invest in a wok rest; this helps to keep the wok stable and secure—very important when deep-frying.
2 Make sure the oil is hot enough
To get the best results from deep-frying, make sure you use a deep-frying thermometer and follow the recommended temperature given in the recipe. If the oil is too cold, the food will take longer to cook and the result is oily food. If the temperature is too hot, the food will burn and will be undercooked on the inside. If you don’t have a thermometer, then you can use the ‘bread test’, which I refer to in my recipes. Be particularly careful when deep-frying in a wok—don’t overfill it, or leave it unattended.
3 Adding and removing the food
When lowering food into deep oil, I use a utensil called a ‘spider’. It is a web-like, woven steel mesh scooper that works well as a strainer. Use it also for lifting fried foods from the wok (draining much oil in the process) onto dishes lined with absorbent kitchen paper (again, to help drain excess oil). The ‘spider’ comes in different sizes and you should be able to find it in all good Chinese supermarkets and kitchen/cookware shops. It often has a handle made of bamboo.
4 Golden rules when deep-frying
Make sure the wok is stable, or use a wok stand.
Do not over-fill the wok with oil—it should be less than half full, when there is less chance of bubbling and spilling over.
Make sure the food is dry, as this prevents spitting.
For best results, avoid re-using oil whenever possible.
Use a large, long pair of bamboo chopsticks to help you turn food over if necessary (not plastic chopsticks, as they melt).
Serve fried food immediately as it will start to lose its crunch and crispness. However, if unavoidable, keep the food hot in a preheated oven before serving.
