Taste with a difference

Did someone call the UAE a melting pot of cultures? Well, this country is also brimming over with good food … the myriad delectable cuisines its diverse communities are bringing to the table.

So what is the food, the many people in the UAE eat at home, like? What are the recipes they cook on their special occasions? What are the secret ingredients that make their food exotic?

Where, if you want to savour them, will you find their dishes about town? And finally, what are the chefs saying about cooking up that storm?

Unwind takes you on a culinary journey across many mouth-watering preparations. This week, food from China …

"Governing a nation is much like cooking a small fish," Chinese philosopher Lao Zi said. This shows the importance the Chinese attach to cooking, elevating the process to an art form.

Their cuisine is incredibly versatile. Almost 2,000 years ago, the Chinese were printing cookbooks, importing ingredients, dining in restaurants and developing sophisticated cooking techniques to highlight the taste of the wide variety of foods.

There is a Cantonese saying that goes: "We will eat anything on the ground with legs, except tables and chairs, eat anything in the sky except aeroplanes, eat anything that swims except submarines."

It harks back to a time when China was ravaged by some of the world's worst famines. So, people ate what they found around them. This gives some explanation for their special liking for all kinds of meat.

Insider information

Fond of fresh food, the Chinese prefer to shop almost daily for ingredients. A Chinese breakfast typically includes steamed breads (huajuan mantou), unleavened pocket-bread with sesame (shaobing), steamed buns with meat or vegetable stuffing (baozi) served with sweet or savoury soymilk (dounai) or Chinese tea.

A unique delicacy is dim sum, a Cantonese term meaning "heart's delight". These are an assortment of tidbits usually made of meats, fish, chicken, fried noodles, steamed dumplings and sweet desserts served at teatime.

Two kinds of noodles are favourites: egg noodles (mien) and rice noodles, also called glass noodles (bijon). Egg noodles are shaped like thin spaghetti while rice noodles are a flat version (ho fan). They are served in three distinct ways: in a clear soup with meat and veggies, mixed with meat and a thickened sauce and plain. Deep-fried dishes include spring rolls, shrimps and prawns.

Chinese cuisine lends itself to many clear soups. There are many thickened soups as well. The thickening agent used is cornstarch. Like clear soups, the thickened soups also include bits of meats, fish and vegetables. Two popular soups are shark-fin soup and bird's nest soup. The main ingredients — shark's fin and bird's nest — are simmered for many hours to make them glutinous.

Medicinal properties

Soybean is another common ingredient. It is processed into bean curd (tofu). Bean curd has the appearance and texture of soft cheese and is made by milling soybeans and forming large cakes that can be cut into slices. Tofu is tasteless, but easily adopts the taste of sauces and other ingredients of a dish.

The staple food is rice (fan). Long-grained rice is used for meals and short-grained or sticky rice is used for desserts or snacks.

Another meat used and valued for its medicinal properties is that of the snake. Eating this meat in winter is said to be good as it is known to warm the body.

Tradition says cold beverages harm digestion. So, chilled water or soft drinks are not served at meals. Besides soup, other liquids served are hot tea or hot water. Chinese tea is believed to aid digestion.

A sweet dish, comprising sliced fruits or a sweet soup (tong sui) which can be taken warm or cold, is usually served at a formal meal.

Simple steps

Chinese cuisine is an art and here are some basic steps to get it right:

- Combine different meats and vegetables in a dish to create an interesting variety of flavours, textures and colours. Prepare everything — meat, vegetables and sauces — before you start cooking.

- Wash green, leafy vegetables ahead of time. This gives them more time to drain so they will not be too wet when you stir-fry.

- Drain tofu before using so that it can absorb the other flavours in the dish.

- Marinate fresh meat and always cut beef across the grain.

- Cut the meat into uniform, bite-sized pieces so that it will cook more evenly.

- Don't use dark soy sauce unless the recipe calls for it.

- If preparing stir-fried meat and vegetables, stir-fry the meat first and set it aside. Usually, you will return it to the wok with a sauce during the final stages of cooking.

- When stir-frying vegetables, cook the toughest and thickest vegetables for a longer period than the softer, leafy vegetables.

- Always use fresh ginger, not the powdered or paste form.

- If desired, use sugar as a substitute for MSG (Monosodium Glutamate).

- The formula for mixing cornstarch and water is 1:2 for example, 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 tablespoons of water.

- Taste the dish and adjust the seasonings as required.

Local eateries

- Golden Dragon Restaurant offers an enjoyable eating-out experience for the family, with a variety of delicacies at affordable prices. In Dubai, it has branches in Karama on Trade Centre Road and in the Internet City. This restaurant specialises in Cantonese and Sichuan styles.

- Peacock Chinese restaurant at the Sheraton Jumeirah Beach Resort and Spa is another good choice for Chinese food lovers. The service is exceptional and prices are reasonable as well.

- Jasmine Moon Restaurant at Karama and Barsha serves mouth-watering dishes at affordable prices. The ambience is rich and inviting.

- Other recommended restaurants in Dubai are Chinese Pavilion at Jumeirah Beach Centre and China Garden at Jumeirah Plaza on Jumeirah Beach road.

Recommended books

Easy Chinese at Home by Seth Hollingsworth
The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp
Key to Chinese Cooking by Irene Kuo

Sana Zarrar Paloba is a UAE-based culinary writer