Bring on the soy sauce, writes Hugo Arnold
The Chinese food we eat here is rarely authentic. I have only ever eaten real Chinese food once. It was at a lunch organised by the late Yan-Kit So, author of Classic Food of China. I can still taste the sea bass; the flesh of the fish so perfectly balanced with soy and ginger, the skin crisped to a turn and offering that meaty flavour we now know as umami.
Chinese food is one of the great cuisines of the world. The truth is, there is a host of cuisines there which we rather clumsily group together. I duck and dive between them in a rather ad-hoc manner, particularly at this time of year when life seems to need a bit of spice, colour and excitement.
After all the traditional festive fare of the past month, this is when we should experiment with Chinese cuisine. Bring on the soy sauce. Particularly to steam belly of pork, unctuous with ginger and chilli and served with green peas; or combined with shredded beef and marinated in wine, then being stir-fried with bean paste and green and red peppers.
The key to Chinese food lies in balance, the correct weight given to yin and yang. We are left in little doubt these days about how out-of-balance our western diet is. Part of the joy of Chinese cuisine is how healthy it is. Low proteins, much use of vegetables, lots of fish, short cooking times and very little oil make it ultra-healthy.