Why the Chinese Don't Count Calories (8 page)

During my first years in China, I used to slip back into Western eating patterns on our annual trips to the UK. I exchanged my Chinese-style lunch for the chilled ready-made soups, pre-packed salads and the offerings of the local butcher’s delicatessen counter. It took about a week before Xiao Ding started to make herself huge bowls of noodles topped with whatever vegetable was cheapest in the local greengrocer. As I struggled to find interesting foodstuffs for her to use I realized how the protein-centred approach of the average modern-day Western meal makes for very limited eating.

A steaming bowl of rice, on the other hand, offers endless possibilities for interesting accompaniments to those who know how to prepare them. Rice is considered the superior staple in China from an economic, nutritional and culinary viewpoint and, except in areas where necessity has forced populations to become accustomed to another grain, is generally favoured. In Europe we are just beginning to widely appreciate the many benefits of this versatile, natural, non-allergenic and easily digestible food, but very few people eat it on a regular basis. Unlike bread, rice does not lend itself to eating away from home or ‘on the run’ (although the Chinese have got round this problem with steel lunch-boxes). As the carbohydrate element of a main meal it is unlikely to be eaten more than a couple of times a week, especially in a food culture where carbohydrates have had years of bad press.

The Western food culture’s modern-day fear of
fan
has not been helped by the protein-loaded Atkins and South Beach diets, or the idea of food ‘combining’, where proteins and carbohydrates have to be eaten at different meals. Restrictive eating plans of this kind may be effective in the short term, generally because they result in the dieter eating less overall. The theory behind low-carbohydrate diets is that when the body does not receive enough carbohydrate to function it starts to burn glycogen, or stored fat. This process releases water which results in immediate weight loss. In the long term, willfully to deprive the body of what it needs and replace it with foods that are higher in fat and lower in nutrients is doomed to failure. Some diets are particularly dangerous as they limit intake not only of grains but also most pulses, fruits and vegetables, thus depriving the dieter of fibre,vitamins and anti-oxidants.

I recall one Chinese cooking class where a lovely student asked me if she could leave the strips of carrot out of the Black Pepper Beef because her husband was on a diet called ‘fat-busters’ which had zero tolerance of carbohydrate. She, on the other hand, was on a high-fibre diet and had brought her own supply of brown rice. I didn’t see how their kitchen could be much of a scene of unity and togetherness.

Along with some wonderful and interesting women, practically every type of food fanatic passed through the door of my cooking school. Each seemed to take ownership of his or her favourite diet plan and seemed completely confident that, based on the latest research, it was the only way to keep off the pounds. Sometimes they sounded so convincing that I wondered if perhaps I was wrong; but then I remembered that my argument, which is not a diet plan but a style of eating that is a way of life, has more than 3,000 years of Chinese history behind it and more than a billion slim people on its side.

At the end of each cooking class my helpers and I would lay the table with a colourful array of food which seldom failed to raise cries of admiration, along with the usual comments, ‘We’ll never get through all this,’ and ‘I won’t need to eat to night. ’ I always hoped there might be leftovers and then I wouldn’t have to cook myself. Generally, though, all the dishes were finished, with the rich, spicy, deep-fried ones going first – only the rice would be left untouched. While my clients expounded their views on diet and weight loss I would often slip to the kitchen for an extra helping of rice and find Xiao Ding and her assistant, Xiao Niu, happily eating their staple from large rice bowls, twice the size of the decorative ones we used in the school.

Rice

If we are to embrace rice in our Western kitchens we have to become familiar with its different varieties and learn how to cook it. In recent years not only health food shops, but supermarkets, too, have begun to stock an impressive range of rice varieties. The most common types are
indica
(long grain) and
japonica
(short grain). In China polished white rice has been favoured over brown out of necessity: whole grains are difficult to transport and store because vermin know a good thing when they find it. I learned to love the Beijing short grain rice, but have been thrilled to see how in the health conscious West of the new millennium we at last have access to the true building blocks of a healthy diet. My new favourite is the short wholegrain rice that has all the stickiness of the rice I enjoyed in Beijing but with extra nuttiness and nutrition too. Red rice from the Camargue makes an interesting change and can be mixed with other long grain or Basmati varieties. Experiment and find whichever type of rice you and your family enjoy, but try to avoid the over-processed ‘easy cook’ varieties. Wild rice (which isn’t actually rice at all) adds flavour and texture when mixed with plain white or brown wholegrain rice. Then there is the black rice from southern China which leaches colour so is best served on its own (the Chinese usually use it only for porridge) when you want a colour contrast in your meal.

Most grains come complete with cooking instructions, but if you learn to work without needing to consult them, meal preparation will be less stressful. Rice is not difficult to cook in a saucepan by the ‘thumbnail’ method. Put in the rice and add water until it reaches the height of the joint on your thumb when the end of the nail (clipped short of course) is touching the rice. Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer until all the water is absorbed. Or, even better, buy a rice cooker, then you can always have cooked rice on hand and freeze the leftovers. Thawed rice is fantastic for frying and fried rice is one of the quickest and easiest meals to prepare.

When Xiao Ding visited the UK ten years ago the choice of grains on the market was much more limited than it is today – and in any case, she missed her particular variety of China’s favourite staple. The Beijing rice is short grain, slightly sticky and tremendously satisfying. She thought our easy-cook varieties were tasteless by comparison, and Basmati was too fragrant for her liking. I sympathized and spent a fortune buying the short grain Japanese rice that was the best imitation, if slightly too stodgy. The following year Xiao Ding accompanied us to the UK a second time. She met us at the airport, dragging my favourite suitcase behind her. I knew better than to say anything, as there is a fine line between borrowing and taking, but I was surprised that she had needed to ‘borrow’ such a large piece of luggage. On her first trip she had packed an extensive wardrobe, appearing at breakfast in a pink and yellow flowered two-piece with a miniskirt; though when she found the rest of us in jeans or tracksuits she reserved her best clothes for photo opportunities. My hopes that the case might be half empty were dashed when I took hold of the handle to swing it on to the trolley and found I could barely lift it. ‘What on earth have you got in there?’ I gasped,wondering how we would manage the baggage allowance. She looked at me as if I was stupid: ‘Rice,’ she answered.

Simple fried rice

Chao fan

Boiled rice is the more usual accompaniment to
cai
, though elaborate versions of fried rice feature in banquets. This simple recipe is generally made to use up leftovers. We often eat it for breakfast.

If you don’t have any leftovers you will achieve a better result by cooking the rice the day before, leaving it in the fridge overnight then breaking it up roughly before using.

1 tbsp oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 spring onion, finely chopped
500 g/1 lb/2 cups leftover cooked rice
(brown, white or a mixture)
1 slice of ham, chopped into small squares
50 g/2 oz/½ cup cooked peas
½ tsp salt (or to taste)

Heat the wok to a high heat, add half the oil, and let it heat up. Tip in the beaten egg, allow it to puff up then stir it as it cooks to break it up. Remove the egg with a slotted spoon and set aside, allowing the excess oil to sink to the base of the wok.

Add the remainder of the oil, then the spring onion and the rice, and stir with a spatula until all the grains are separated. Turn the heat down slightly if the mixture is browning. Add the chopped ham, egg and peas and stir them in well.

Season with salt, mix well and serve.

Or any other grain . . .

Because the Chinese diet has such an infinite variety of
cai
, (dishes), Chinese diners often enjoy their
fan,
or staple, finely cooked and, as I learned from Xiao Ding, they tend to become very attached to their local type of rice. She once explained to me that rice was still a novelty to many Beijingers because before 1941 the area did not have irrigation systems to grow rice as a staple crop, so the diet was based on wheat. Certainly Beijing is famous for the dumplings and flat-breads I have already mentioned, and also noodles and pancakes. Compared with rice though, these are generally regarded as lighter options, to be eaten when time is short.

For modern living, combination dishes such as fried noodles, offering both
fan
and
cai
, have the advantage of convenience, and while I came to love rice and seldom go a day without using it in at least one meal, I like to use different grains or pasta and often mix my vegetables in with them, fusion style. New varieties of staple foods are reaching Western supermarket shelves all the time. Barley is ideal for risottos; the protein-packed quinoa makes a tasty salad, cornmeal (polenta) and water makes a pizza-type base, and the soaked and steamed grain is delicious cut in slices and fried.

Bread

So what’s wrong with sandwiches anyway? For many of us in the West, bread is such an integral part of our diet that the thought of giving it up overnight is terrifying (though many people have had to because of the rise in gluten allergies). If you like bread, and it likes you, then you can still enjoy our Western favourite as a staple food. Better and more interesting varieties of bread are appearing in the West all the time, and there is no doubt that the stoneground,organic varieties featuring wholegrain ‘designer’ flours and even nuts and seeds, are superior nutritionally to the white, sliced equivalent. Enjoy fresh interesting breads with your meals, but with moderation. Much of the bread we eat is processed and packed with preservatives.

Fan
, staples to eat
away from home

• curried brown-rice salad with blanched beansprouts, peanuts, raisins and honey-mustard dressing

• pasta salad with tuna, sweetcorn, tomato, olives and anchovies

• buckwheat noodles with sweet potato, marinated beancurd, shredded spring onions and soy sauce

• couscous with stir-fried red and yellow peppers, almonds and sultanas

• quinoa with minced ginger, chopped, blanched green beans, squares of tofu or ham, and sesame oil

Sandwich fillings are often primarily animal protein with a token vegetable garnish, and generally bread does not lend itself to partnering interesting vegetable dishes in the same way as a loose grain or a noodle-style product. In northern China people make fresh
mantou
(steamed buns) on a daily basis. Simple to make with either yeast or baking powder,
mantou
can be made with white or wholemeal flower or a mixture. They only take a few minutes to knead and can be steamed in twelve to fifteen minutes.
Mantou
are eaten alongside
cai
in place of, or sometimes as well as, rice. Sometimes they are spread with fermented beancurd ‘cheese’, a tasty savoury spread. Because they are made without preservatives and their eating quality is one of soft freshness,
mantou
are always eaten on the day they are steamed. The whole eating experience is very different from one where bread is treated as a convenience food and a piece of toast is seen as a substitute for a real meal. Freshly made wholegrain bread is a great food, but don’t rely on it too much and find yourself eating a limited diet.