Delicacies

An apple aday

By Pauline D. Loh (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-29 07:20

Healthy eating seems to be a fixation for modern city-dwellers bent on the good life. Pauline D. Loh recommends going back to the old-fashioned way.

One of my jobs as an editor is to scan the newspapers for headline news, and in these click-happy days of instant access, I am finished with the broadsheets and tabloids from six countries by 9 every morning. They are all bookmarked on my desktop.

A few mornings ago, I decided to venture off the front page and into the food and travel sections. That's when I realized the majority of readers these days love to know where to eat, what to eat, which chefs are hot, which restaurants are not. But they don't seem to want to know how to cook.

Thankfully, a more determined search discovered that the leading papers of the world devote pages to cooking and health, much like ours - which puts China Daily into the forefront of enlightened journalism.

It's easy to explain, really, being a simple case of mathematics.

Newspapers these days are driven by the bottom line, and it's so much easier to sell advertising to restaurants than to raw product producers. Most organic farms cannot afford advertising. I am only glad my bosses have a more humane approach to journalism.

While eating out should be an occasional treat, both for the benefit of your wallet and body, being able to cook gives you control over what you eat, caters to your body's individual nutritional needs and cuts out the artificial preservatives and enhancers that give commercial food a longer shelf-life and better presentation.

Cooking is also therapeutic, and the systematic preparation in the kitchen yields results that will make your house smell like home, and satisfy body and soul - through the mouth.

Happily, that helpless trend of depending on fast food take-outs is being balanced out as more young professionals take up cooking as a hobby, no doubt inspired by the success stories showcased by reality television series such as Master Chef, Top Chef and all those sexy celebrity beefcake and cheesecake chefs cooking up a storm on air. Whatever the inspiration, this desire to excel in the kitchen as well as the boardroom must be applauded and encouraged.

But I do have a word of advice for novice home chefs. Try learning from the real domestic goddess - your mother. It's quicker and you get a no-nonsense, no-frills approach that will last until you are ready to pass it on to your own grandkids. That's how she learnt cooking, by tapping into the wisdom of generations of women who cared to give only the best to their families.

And it's true, too, that all the old adages about food are now being proven in the laboratories.

For example, an apple a day does keep the doctor away, so here are a few nice ways to eat the apples - both sweet and savory.

If you have stored up a stash of apples, now is the time to cook them. Try using apples in savory dishes for a sweet scent of spring, or indulge in delicious home-baked goodies that will bring the wandering prodigals home with their heavenly aroma.

Recipe | FISH AND APPLE SOUP

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 whole fish, fillet and bones

2 apples, quartered

4-6 slices ginger

1 large bunch spring onions, sectioned

1 large red tomato, cut into 8 wedges

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Start a frying pan and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Fry the ginger slices and spring onions until they are lightly browned at the edges. Add the fish bones and fry till lightly browned.

2. Add enough water to cover the bones and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until all flavor is extracted from the bones.

3. Strain the soup and return the stock to the pot.

4. Bring it to a boil and add the apple chunks. Reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes or until apple wedges go soft.

5. Clean the fish fillets and slice into large chunks. Just before serving bring stock back to a boil and add fish and tomato wedges. Remove from heat at once and serve with salt and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper.

Food notes:

Fish and apple soup? Yes, indeed, and you wouldn't believe how delicious it is. This first came out of a restaurant in Singapore, but it is now a popular offering as the soup du jour in Chinese restaurants from Hong Kong to Jakarta. If you stop and think about it, the sweet and tart apples are the perfect foil for the fish, and the ginger and tomato help remove remaining traces of the Piscean aroma. The soup has a throat-soothing milkiness that makes it great for tired souls.

Recipe
| APPLE BON BON CHICKEN

Ingredients (serves 4 to 6):

2 green apples

2 red apples

1 tsp salt

1 cooked chicken leg/breast

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp chunky peanut butter

1 tsp chili oil

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

1 bunch spring onion, diced

1 bunch coriander, chopped

Method:

1. Core apples, but keep the skin. Cut into slices, then matchsticks. Sprinkle salt over the apples and mix. After 10 minutes, rinse, drain and dry. Arrange on a large platter

2. Shred the chicken and place in a large deep bowl.

3. Mix sesame oil, peanut butter, chili oil, honey and vegetable oil together. Blend together. If mixture is too thick, thin it down with a little hot water gradually until you get a droppable consistency.

4. Mix the shredded chicken into the dressing. Pile dressed chicken on top of apple sticks.

5. Garnish with coriander, spring onions and toasted sesame seeds.

Food notes:

This is a favorite Californian cold dish at Chinese restaurants. Originally from the southwestern region of China, this was called bangbang ji, or chicken in batons. It followed the diaspora of Chinese chefs abroad, and slowly evolved into bon bon chicken, with the addition of the all-American favorite - peanut butter.

Recipe
| APPLE CAKE

Ingredients:

150 g butter, softened

150 g sugar, plus 2 tablespoons

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150 g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 large Fuji apples

2 tbsp butter melted

Icing sugar

Method:

1. Butter a 20 cm cake pan. Preheat oven to 180 C.

2. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add sifted flour and baking powder and beat to make a smooth batter.

3. Spread the batter in the cake pan.

4. Peel and cut the apples into wedges and arrange them on the batter, pressing down into the dough. Brush apple with melted butter and sprinkle with more sugar.

5. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until cake is golden and apples are cooked. Cool and plate. Dust with icing sugar.

Food notes:

This is the ultimate comfort food on a cold blustery spring day. Bite into the buttery cake topped with soft fragrant chunks of apple and chase it down with a cup of hot milky tea. Apple cake has German origins, but is now enjoyed right across the globe.

(China Daily 01/29/2011 page12)