Interest in the Olympic Games, which are now being held in China, inevitably aroused interest in the culture of this original country with a thousand-year history. We all, of course, remember that the Chinese civilization gave the world gunpowder, paper, silk and many other necessary and useful things, but the conversation now, as usual, will be about Chinese cuisine.
We have already talked about steaming, a very popular culinary method in Chinese cuisine. Another common method is roasting in a wok – allows you to create many simple and very healthy dishes in a matter of minutes.
So wok
A modern wok is most often a rounded pan, reminiscent of kazan, and with a long handle, which allows you not to burn yourself when cooking over an open fire. A cast iron or steel wok is the best choice, but you can easily find Teflon-coated woks in stores – although you won’t be able to experiment with authentic Chinese cuisine with them, these pans are much less whimsical to service. A real wok, like a cauldron, must first be properly calcined, and washing and storing such a wok also requires the right approach.
Steel wok.As clearly follows from its shape, the grandfather of the wok was a kettle, in which nomadic peoples cooked the whole range of dishes available to them – which means that in a wok you can also to put outand steam, and even Cook soup.
However, the wok is most often used for quick frying in hot oil. Chinese chefs, as a rule, cook over high heat, and the frying pan itself and the oil in it are very hot, and therefore cooking in a wok takes literally a few minutes, and vegetables fried in this manner retain their freshness, crispness and most of the useful properties.
Cooking in a wok
So, if you woke up a desire to touch the age-old heritage of Chinese civilization, you can go to a restaurant – or you can start comprehending The basics of Chinese cuisine right now, because there is nothing difficult about it. According to Ming Tsaya, restaurant owner Blue and the host of a culinary show Simply Ming, the basic taste of many Chinese dishes is created by ginger, garlic and green onions.
Add vegetables to that, as well as meat, seafood or tofu and you have countless combinations. Cheryl and Lawrence Sune, who own several restaurants House of Hunan, confirm that there are no wrong combinations when choosing meat or vegetables for roasting in a wok. “The question is which one you like best,” they say. According to Lawrence, the secret of proper roasting is not to overcook foods, especially vegetables, so that they are not saturated with oil. The result you get should be colorful and crunchy. “Shine, color and taste,” he called the properties of a well-prepared dish.
He said that people are often frustrated when they try to cook dinner in a wok at home and complain that the result is never the same as what is served in a restaurant. Unfortunately, this is the case, agrees Cheryl, and adds that she, too, believes that the food her husband prepares at home is worse than the one he prepares in the restaurant. It’s all about professional stoves with burners surrounding the wok with a strong fire, which, of course, is not available to home cooks.
Ming Tsai agrees with this statement: “I have an 80 BTU burner * and the wok is literally on fire. You won’t be able to do this at home, I’m not even sure it will be legal. “
Everything will work out!
However, there are certain trickswhich you can use to improve your wok cooking result. Tsai recommends purchasing a flat-bottomed all-metal skillet that will provide more contact with the fire on your stove. It is best to choose a wok from three to five layers of metal: “The more layers, the longer the wok will stay warm.” Before using the wok, preheat the oven to maximum (usually 250 degrees) and place the wok in it to warm it up.
Be carefulWhen removing the wok from the oven, the handle will be hot and you will need a good oven mitt. Put the preheated wok on the burner turned on at maximum, and then add a little rapeseed oil… Do not reduce the heat while cooking so that any food added to the oil will immediately sizzle loudly. “If there is no sizzle, you will not have a crispy and crisp dish,” Tsai says. When reheating the oil, Tsai adds chopped garlic and ginger to they transferred their aromas to the oil, and then finely chopped white chives (the green chunks are useful for decorating the finished dish.) “We have the basis for many Chinese dishes,” he says.
Ming Cai in person.During cooking Chongqing spicy beef Laurence Sune adds two dried chili pepper, and when serving, puts them on top of the finished dish. Peppers give the beef all their pungency, and you don’t need to eat them.
Let’s take a look in China
Although the main flavors are used throughout vast China, the dishes vary greatly from region to region. In the provinces Hunan and the nearby town Chongqing The dishes are spicier and served with darker sauces, and in China’s more southern coastal regions, the food is less seasoned, with a preference for seafood and chicken over beef and pork, says Xune. Tsai says there is one dish that is prevalent throughout China – fried rice.
Although Jiaozi dumplings now spread throughout China, they were originally considered a more northern food. The reason is that there was more wheat in the north, while rice was more common in the south. Noodles, rice or wheat, can also be found in any part of the country. “Noodles in some form in any part of China. Noodles are like bread for China, and soy sauce in our country they use it instead of salt, ”Tsai says. And here are the rest of Tsai’s tips for competent roasting in a wok:
- Thin chop the meat and vegetables, then they will cook very quickly.
- When the meat is done, add the vegetables, depending on how how long does it take to prepare them… Carrots, kale, and other hard vegetables should go first as they take longer than bell peppers or spinach.
- Fry small portionsso as not to overload the wok, which will lose its heat. Maintain maximum heat and continually toss and turn food.