Art of Chinese Cooking, The (by Jewell)

by: Rebekah Lin Jewell

Blooomington In: AthroHouse 2008, Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-4387-0217-3

Reviewed by: Jacqueline M. Newman
Summer Volume: 2010 Issue: 17(2) page(s): 22

The author, born and raised in China, came to the United States in 1964, and now lives in our nation's capital. She has more than twenty-five years of experience teaching Chinese cooking there and in China and she does know how to write clear concise recipes. Featured in The Washington Post, she has been on television, and she loves to cook for family and friends. We all need to become one of them.

No photographs in this volume, just down to earth usable recipes that are easy to follow and taste terrific. Each starts with one short sentence of introduction. There are more than one hundred thirty of them, in main ingredient sets, some vegetarian ones can become staples in many a healthy-food-home. Not all are totally vegetarian, but they all surely are very good. One such, Tofu in a Pot, Meatless, as it is called in this book, has lots of fish and flavor.

Tofu in a Pot, Meatless
Ingredients:
16 ounces firm tofu
8 ounces napa cabbage, cut into three-quarter-inch strips
2 packages (each 1.3 ounces) cellophane noodles, soaked for twenty minutes, then cut into eight-inch lengths
6 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked for twenty minutes in hot water, stems removed
12 ounces firm white fish, cut into one-inch pieces
4 whole scallions, chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon dried shrimp
3 cups vegetable stock
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 Tablespoons soybeans
Preparation:
1. Drain tofu and slice into one-and-half-inch by one-quarter-inch pieces.
2. Put cabbage into the bottom of a two-quart saucepan. Add cellophane noodles then the soaked mushrooms, each cut in half, and the tofu on top of them; and the pieces of fish on the top.
3. Heat a wok or large fry-pan and then add oil and when hot add scallions, ginger, garlic, and dried shrimp and stir-fry some twenty seconds until fragrant before adding the vegetable stock and the ground pepper and bring it to the boil; then pour this over the tofu mixture.
4. Bring tofu mixture to the boil, reduce heat and cover the pot and simmer it for eighteen minutes.
5. Sprinkle the soybean around in the pot, recover and simmer two minutes more, then serve.

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