Eight treasure tea

Green tea leaves form the base for this traditional hot tea from the Hui parts of the Chinese Northwest. It is then seasoned with things like rock sugar, red dates, wolfberries, dried longans (dragon eye fruit), walnuts, apricot pits, and raisins. Additional herbs and flowers are added to add up to the nominal “eight” ingredients, but these are decided by local and personal preferences.

Other areas in China have their own versions, such as Sichuan. There the tea often contains some local green tea, ginseng, rock sugar, licorice root, wolfberries, raisins, red dates, and finally both jasmine and chrysanthemum blossoms. And instead of green tea, it sometimes is made there with black tea or even dark compressed teas like pu’er.

I’ve tried innumerable variations on this tea over the years, and there’s really no hard and set recipe, as it all depends upon the time of year, what you have available, what you are serving it with, and your personal tastes. But here is a basic recipe that you can tinker around with as you find the combinations you like best.

One thing I do want to point out is that a really good quality tea is important, as it provides that tannic edge that balances the sweetness and fruitiness of the other ingredients. Also, try to hunt down the small yellow chrysanthemums that are grown in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province (Hángzhōu júhuā 杭州菊花), as their fragrance is clean and fresh.

This tea is almost always prepared and served in thin, covered cups that hold around 8 ounces of water. The ingredients are added to the cups, the hot water is poured over everything, and the cover is placed on top. Then, you wait, for it takes around 5 minutes for the flavors to really bloom. More hot water can be added about halfway through the cup, and if you want more sugar, drop a few small pieces in too.

Eight treasure tea

Bābǎochá 八寶茶

Northwest

Serves 1 (can be multiplied infinitely)

1 teaspoon good green tea leaves

2 small or 1 large Chinese red dates

1 teaspoon wolfberries

1 teaspoon rock sugar

1 teaspoon sweet apricot pits (nánxìng 南杏)

2 dried longans

1 walnut half, lightly crumbled

3 dried chrysanthemum blossoms

1 teaspoon raisins

Boiling water

1. The traditional way to prepare this type of tea is to place the tea leaves, dates, wolfberries, apricot pits, longans, walnut, chrysanthemums, and raisins in a 8- to 12-ounce covered cup before dousing them with enough boiling water to rinse them off. The cover is then angled against the cup as this water is poured off and discarded. Or, if you prefer, you can place these ingredients in a small sieve and simply rinse them under the tap before placing them in your cup.

2. Pour fresh boiling water over the tea’s ingredients, add the sugar, and cover the cup. Wait for a few minutes before sipping so that the tea leaves, fruits, and nuts have time to release their aromas and the sugar to melt. Angle the cover up with one hand to corral these ingredients as you gingerly hold your hot cup with the other and take your first sips. Most of these solids will sink to the bottom of the cup as they swell up, and you can remove the cover at that time, if you wish.

Northwestern roasted fish for the New Year

It's still Chinese New Year, and one of the most important things you can serve at a meal during these two weeks is fish. If you are preparing this next year for New Year's Eve, you should leave at least half of it for the following evening's dinner, along with the words "nian nian you yu" 年年有餘. What this means is "may every year have plenty." And you say that because "plenty" in Chinese sounds just like "fish" (yú 魚). 

The Chinese invariably include the head and the tail, as these represent wishes that run from the beginning to the end of the year. Besides, they're awfully tasty.

Crispy cumin & juicy jalapeños

In the desert areas, freshwater fish is traditionally barbecued in a way that resembles Xinjiang-Style Lamb Kebabs: The fish is butterflied, seasoned, and then skewered on long, thin sticks. Because fish are more delicate, though, these are angled a short distance from the fire so that they cook more slowly. 

You can achieve something very similar if you roast the fish in a hot oven, as the olive oil crisps up the skin. I like the way that the cumin turns into crunchy bits that contrast perfectly with the juicy flesh. You can, of course, also barbecue this over a small amount of coals that are covered in white ash.

Butterfly body, then flatten head

Northwestern roasted fish

Xīnjiāng kǎoyú 新疆烤魚

Northwest

Serves 4

  

1 whole mild fish (about 1 pound), like branzino, grass carp, bass, or tilapia

¾ teaspoon sea salt

Spray oil

Extra virgin olive oil, as needed

2 teaspoons whole cumin

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 red jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped

1. Heat the oven to 500°F, or its highest setting. Scale, gut, and clean the fish, and remove the gills. Slash the sides in the “willow leaf” pattern (page TK). If you like, remove the bones (or have your fishmonger do this). Butterfly it by opening up the fish completely along the belly—lay it with all the skin facing you so that you can flatten the fish by pressing along its backbone. Massage the salt into both sides of the fish and let it marinate for around 10 minutes.

Ready to go

2. Oil a broiler pan. Rub some olive oil on both sides of the fish, and try to hit every spot. Lay the fish flesh side up and sprinkle it with half of the cumin, garlic, and chili peppers. Roast the fish for about 8 minutes, or until the flesh is starting to brown. Remove the fish, turn it over, drizzle a bit more olive oil over the skin, and sprinkle it with the rest of the cumin and chili peppers. Roast it for another 10 minutes, or so, until the skin is golden and crispy. Plate the fish and pour the drippings from the broiler pan over the fish.

  

Midwinter soup from Ningxia

The longest night of the year is a time for celebration in China. And that means that it’s a time for eating traditional foods. The Winter Solstice usually occurs on December 21 or 22, as its arrival is determined by the lunar calendar. My husband and his family always look forward to bowls of sweet sticky rice balls (tangyuan) that evening. However, depending upon where you are, this cold night might instead be a time to enjoy some Jiaozi or lamb soup. 

Ningxia puts a special spin on this custom, for the Winter Solstice means one thing and one thing only: a big bowl of spicy lamb soup with thick batons of mung bean jelly (or liangfen) floating in there among some mushrooms and tomatoes. And, I have to tell you, the liangfen is a touch of genius: the cubes turn into enticing, gently textured pillows that really stand out against the rich bits of lamb.

The liangfen starts out white

Some people also toss in chunks of potatoes or some Jiaozi, but since this is best served with bread, I find they turn this into a bit of a carb overload. Just have the jelly ready to go before you start this recipe, and this will come together instantly.

Ningxia Midwinter Soup

Níngxià yángròu fěntāng  寧夏羊肉粉湯

The Northwest

Serves 2 as a main meal

Soup:

3 or more ounces boneless lamb or goat meat

1 teaspoon regular soy sauce

½ teaspoon dark soy sauce

Making this jelly is a snap

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons shredded fresh ginger

3 green onions, trimmed and julienned, whites and greens kept separate

1 teaspoon coarse chili powder, or less if you are chili-adverse

½ teaspoon five-spice powder 

4 black mushrooms, fresh or dried and plumped up, trimmed and thinly sliced

4 whole canned Roma tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch slices

2 teaspoons black vinegar, or to taste

4 cups unsalted mushroom stock or water

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I recipe for Mung Bean Jelly, through Step 2

To serve:

Handful of cilantro

Marinate the meat -- I used goat

Grilled Breads, or any other raised baked breads from this region

1. Cut the lamb into ¼-inch strips. Place them in a small work bowl and toss with both kinds of soy sauce. While this is marinating, prepare the rest of the ingredients. If you have any bones or fat on the meat, consider tossing this into the stock for extra flavor; remove them before you pour the stock into the vegetables.

2. Set a wok over medium-high heat and add the oil when it is hot. Swirl it around and add the ginger and onion whites. As soon as they are fragrant, sprinkle in the lamb and marinade, and toss these around until the lamb is barely done. Scoop this out into a clean work bowl, but drain the oil back into the wok.

Mushrooms with spices

3. Over medium heat, add the chili powder and five-spice powder to the oil and swirl them around before raising the heat to medium-high and adding the mushrooms. Toss these quickly to release their fragrance, and then add the tomatoes and vinegar. Pour in the stock or water and bring this to a boil before lower the heat to a simmer. The soup can be made ahead up to this point.

4. Cut the mung bean jelly into fat batons around ¾-inch wide and an inch or so long, or whatever size you like. Slide these into the soup and simmer them gently for around 10 minutes to heat through; they will turn from an opaque white to almost translucent. Add the lamb, then taste and adjust the seasoning with whatever you like. Ladle the soup into large bowls, top with the finely chopped onion greens and coarsely chopped cilantro, and serve with the bread, which may be torn into smallish pieces and tossed into the soup.

Ever eaten Qinghai cuisine? Be prepared for a delicious surprise...

 Qinghai in China's far west is not famous in China for its cuisine, but the few things from there that I have tried have been terrific, so this low profile is a puzzle to me. Its cuisine is a great cross between so many influences—Han Chinese, Hui Muslim, Tibetans—that you just know the food here has to be good.

One such dish is this flavorful, gorgeous, and yet quite easy fish that is decorated with a “flower” cut design so that the meat of the fish blooms in the hot oil as it fries, crisping up into petals that, when done, make the fish look indeed much like a pinecone. A tangy sauce is then poured over it and toasted pine nuts complete the transformation from fish into a tasty work of art.

Flower cut

           

Similar preparations are found throughout northern China and down through the Yangtze River area. The version called Squirrel Fish (sōngshŭ yú 松鼠魚) is a classic Hangzhou dish, for example, and then there is Shandong’s Sweet-and-Sour Fish (tángcù yú 糖醋魚), plus any number of similar recipes that coat fresh- or saltwater fish in a light batter, fry it until crisp, and then drape it with a refined sauce. 

Since fish goes so well with slightly sour notes like lemon and vinegar, it is understandable that here in China its sauce will sometimes contain sweet-and-sour notes. And because it tastes so good and looks so nice, the sauce is often red from ketchup and buzzes with bits of aromatics, like ginger, green onion, and garlic.

           

Some might even have some pine nuts in the mix, but the recipe below is exceptionally successful in this regard, for the fish is not only make to look a bit like a pinecone but even has the nuts to carry the fantasy a bit further.

Pinecone fish

Sōngzĭ yú 松子魚

Qinghai
Serves 4 to 6

Fish and batter:
2 pounds (more or less) fileted fish with the skin on (rock cod, amberjack, or carp are all good)

½ teaspoon sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup rice wine (Mijiu)

¾ cup cornstarch, divided

Vegetables:

1 pound bok choy or other greens

3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

Sauce:

Lower the fish gently into oil

4 cup peanut or vegetable oil (used all right if it smells fresh)

¼ cup pine nuts

4 green onions, trimmed and finely chopped

¼ cup minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon sea salt

¼ cup catsup

2 tablespoons light colored (apple or rice) vinegar

1 cup unseasoned chicken stock

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ cup cool filtered water

1. Rinse the fish and pat it dry with a paper towel. Lay the filets on a cutting board with the skin-side down. Working on one filet at a time, make parallel slices ¼-inch apart down the length of the filet that cut through the flesh but not through the skin. Then turn the filet 90 degrees and, starting with the thicker end, make deep diagonal slices ¼-inch apart through the flesh all the way down the body but again not through the skin. Repeat with the other filet. Mix together the salt, pepper, rice wine, and half of the cornstarch, and then gently massage this into all the crevasses on the cut side of the fish; don’t be concerned if bits of fish fall off, as they can be fried too and tossed on top of the filets with no one the wiser. Let the fish marinate in this while you prepare everything else.

Fried up & crispy

2. Rinse the vegetables well, shake dry, and cut the bok choy lengthwise into quarters or the spinach or other greens into 2-inch lengths, discarding any tough pieces. Heat a wok over high heat, add the oil and salt, swirl these around, and then stir-fry the vegetables until barely done. Use the vegetables to make a next on a serving platter.

3. Heat the oil in your wok over medium heat and add the pine nuts. Gently fry these until they have turned a light brown, and then use a slotted spoon to remove them to a small bowl.

4. Coat the marinated fish with the other half of the cornstarch: Working on one piece at a time, pick up each piece of fish by the tail end and scatter the cornstarch into the crevasses so that the cut pieces do not stick together. Gently lower the filet into the hot oil and fry on the cut side first until it is lightly browned. Use two spatulas to carefully turn it over, fry briefly on the other side, and then transfer the filet to the vegetable-lined platter. Repeat with the other filet, reserving any leftover cornstarch in the bowl for the sauce. If you have any broken bits of fish left over, fry these too and then scatter them over the fried filets. Drain the oil out of the wok, leaving only about 3 tablespoons.

5. Lower the heat under the wok to medium and add the green onions and ginger. Stir these around in the hot oil to release their fragrance, and then add the salt, ketchup, vinegar, stock and sugar, and bring these to a boil. Mix the leftover cornstarch with the water to make a slurry, and pour as much in as needed to thicken the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and then pour this over the fried filets. Sprinkle the tops with the toasted pine nuts and serve immediately.