Herbal Infusions: Chinese Food in a New Key

The Chinese are great herbalists, using all manner of preserved roots, seeds, flowers, plants and animal products in health-giving elixirs.

Fresh green herbs, on the other hand, aren’t terribly important. You don’t find them in Chinese herbal stores, and they don’t appear often in Chinese dishes, except for cilantro (Chinese parsley).

But Shirley Fong-Torres may change all that. She’s a cook of the future, anxious to incorporate new seasonings into old ways of cooking. For instance, some of the recipes in her cookbook, “In the Chinese Kitchen With Shirley Fong-Torres” (Pacific View Press: $12.95) contain basil. And she uses lots of cilantro, an herb she once hated.

“I’ve learned to really appreciate and enjoy the different flavors and sensations that come from herbs,” she says.

Fong-Torres employs lemon grass too, adding it to basil in a Thai-Vietnamese-inspired chicken dish. And she uses three herbs--basil, mint and cilantro--in a noodle recipe borrowed from Mark Ellman, owner of Avalon Restaurant in Lahaina on the island of Maui. Fong-Torres has made one change in Ellman’s original. She uses fresh Chinese noodles instead of linguine. “Nowadays, Chinese food is still Chinese food,” she says, “but we like to borrow from other sources.”

Fong-Torres is president of Wok Wiz Chinatown Walking Tours & Cooking Co. in San Francisco, so she’s up on everything happening in the markets, bakeries, restaurants, delis and specialty shops there. She also teaches Chinese cooking. And she knows the restaurant business from the inside because her family had restaurants in the Oakland area, Nevada and Texas. While in high school, Fong-Torres worked at one of them, the Bamboo Hut in Hayward.

Her tour business has expanded so much that she needs a staff of guides. But there’s one tour that Fong-Torres insists on leading herself. It’s a nonstop munch-a-thon called “I Can’t Believe I Ate My Way Through Chinatown!” The tour is limited to 10 participants. “It’s only for people who are practically fanatical about Chinese food,” she says.

The fanatics breakfast on congee , noodles, Chinese bread and tea, then nibble meatless dumplings at a vegetarian teahouse, visit a shop that specializes in beans and bean products and move on to a delicatessen where they learn how to choose the best barbecued duck in the place. The duck is cut up and packed with a wad of paper napkins for snacking on the street. Next, the group goes to a pastry shop where they choose “whatever looks good,” but nothing ordinary like almond cookies. The itinerary includes a tea tasting and instruction in ordering a Chinese meal. It winds up with an eight-course dim sum lunch and a gift for each person.

The sort of food served in Chinese tea houses appears in Fong-Torres’ cookbook, along with dishes she learned from her father (who worked for a time as a chef at Trader Vic’s) and her mother, plus her own repertoire from 20 years of teaching.

The basil and lemon grass dishes were added to the book “in order to make it a little more modern,” she says. Other innovations include congee (rice gruel) prepared with turkey; Chinese paella, to which Fong-Torres suggests adding Chinese or Italian sausage; a fat-reduced version of lemon chicken, drunken chicken marinated with rum, and a warm chicken and Chinese noodle salad that includes sweet peppers, pea pods and peanuts.

There are easy everyday dishes too, such as Chinese-style beef stew, stir-fried tomatoes and eggs and barbecued spareribs, plus classics old and new including Chinese chicken salad, kung pao chicken, mu shu pork and beef with oyster sauce.

Fong-Torres has also written “San Francisco Chinatown: A Walking Tour” (Pacific View Press; $10.95). For information on the tours, write to Wok Wiz Chinatown Tours and Cooking Co., 750 Kearny St., Suite 800, San Francisco, 94108 or phone (415) 355-9657.

*

Use only the thick base of a lemon grass stalk for this recipe. Remove the tough outer layers and crush the stalk thoroughly. Leave whole rather than slicing or mincing.

LEMON GRASS AND BASIL CHICKEN

1 tablespoon crushed lemon grass stalk 1 tablespoon fish sauce 1 teaspoon rice vinegar or white vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon white pepper 1 whole chicken breast, boned, skinned and cut into bite-size pieces 1 tablespoon oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger root 1/2 onion, thinly sliced 3 small whole dried chiles 1/4 cup basil leaves 1/2 cup chicken broth 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water 1/2 teaspoon chili oil Sesame oil Additional basil leaves for garnish

Combine lemon grass, fish sauce, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch and pepper in bowl. Add chicken and marinate at least 1 hour, preferably longer.

Heat wok with oil. When smoky, add garlic, ginger, onion and whole chiles. Cook until onion is translucent. Add chicken and continue to stir-fry over high heat. Add basil leaves, cook 1 minute and add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Stir in cornstarch mixture and cook until sauce thickens.

Drizzle with chile oil and small amount sesame oil. Turn out onto serving platter and top with basil leaves. Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Each serving contains about:

342 calories; 635 mg sodium; 87 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 38 grams protein; 0.93 gram fiber.

*

Fong-Torres suggests adding fresh hot chiles to taste to the noodle topping and using Maui onion, if available.

ASIAN NOODLES

1/2 pound fresh Chinese noodles 6 dried black mushrooms 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 teaspoon chopped ginger root 1 teaspoon chopped garlic 1 teaspoon chopped onion 2 teaspoons minced cilantro 2 teaspoons basil, in julienne strips 2 teaspoons mint, in julienne strips 1 teaspoon fermented black beans, rinsed 2 teaspoons minced green onions 4 live Manila clams 1 ounce fresh ahi (tuna) or similar fish, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 4 shrimp, shelled and deveined 4 sea scallops, cut into halves, or 8 whole bay scallops 1/4 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded, finely chopped 1/4 cup unsalted butter 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons basil, in julienne strips

Cook noodles in advance. Rinse noodles with cold water to prevent sticking and then keep warm.

Soak mushrooms in hot water 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water. Remove and discard stems. Slice caps into thin pieces.

Heat wok with olive and sesame oils over medium heat. Add ginger, garlic, onion, cilantro, 2 teaspoons basil, mint, black beans and green onions and stir-fry 1 minute. Add clams, ahi, shrimp, scallops and mushrooms and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and butter and stir until seafood is cooked and clams open.

Add Parmesan cheese and remaining basil and blend together. Serve over noodles. Makes 2 servings.

Each serving contains about:

924 calories; 597 mg sodium; 199 mg cholesterol; 35 grams fat; 114 grams carbohydrates; 39 grams protein; 1.78 grams fiber.