Two dishes you can try

Mugwort cakes

These little round sticky cakes are found not only in China, but also in Korea and Japan. You can substitute mugwort juice with green matcha powder, or wheatgrass juice.

400g glutinous rice flour

100g plain rice flour

20 ml juice of fresh mugwort

Enough hot water to bring dough together

500g adzuki or red bean paste

Combine rice flours, mugwort juice and enough hot water to form a soft, pliable dough.

Divide the green dough into golf ball sized portions.

Place spoonful of red bean paste inside each ball, seal to close.

Place balls on squares of parchment paper or bamboo leaves, steam over hot water for 15 to 20 minutes until cakes are cooked and are a dark, translucent color.

Spring rolls

You can make your own wrappers but good, store-bought crepes are readily available.

Cut up your favorite vegetables thinly. You can use radishes, turnips, bamboo shoots, cabbages or carrots and add spring onions and chives for color and flavor.

Heat up some peanut oil in a wok and stir-fry the vegetables till just wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay a spring roll wrapper on the table and place a lettuce leaf on top. Place a ladle of filling on the lettuce, then roll up tightly into a pancake.

The lettuce leaf prevents the juices from soaking through the skin, and breaking the spring roll.

Because this is a vegetarian dish, it has no garlic. In China, strict Buddhist vegetarians avoid all alliums, including garlic, onions and chives.

(China Daily European Weekly 04/01/2016 page20)