Chinese cookery made simple - a book review

Book review: Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese home cooking, Fuchsia Dunlop, Bloomsbury Press, 2012.  £25

  Fuchsia Dunlop may be known to some of you as the first western woman to train at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in China, as told in her lovely memoir Shark's fin and Sichuan pepper (Ebury Press, 2008). Her first book Sichuan Cooking (Michael Joseph, 2001) is an insightful guide to the cooking of Sichuan province, known for the spicy nature of its food and perhaps unknown to many Westerners used to Cantonese cooking which tends to dominate Chinese take aways in the UK. In this, her fourth book, Dunlop is trying to introduce us to the varied nature of 'ordinary' Chinese food across a number of regions and to suggest that it is simple and easy to prepare. So that is the aim; how does it work in practice?   The dishes I tried out included black bean chicken, pak choy with mushrooms, replacing the shiitake with ordinary mushrooms, and the 'Twice Cooked Swiss Chard'. All were well received with just one or two who couldn't take the tingling heat of Sichuan chilli paste. All the dishes had fragrant layers of taste, from the smokey sourness of Chinese vinegar to the classic garlic and ginger combination. The clean flavour of the pak choy and mushrooms comes partly from blanching them before stir frying; a process which retains their juiciness.   While most of the ingredients can be found in the 'international' food stores in central Exeter (see below) I also took to heart her advice to "improvise from your own store-cupboard". I tried out her "Braised chicken with dried shiitake mushrooms" replacing the latter with fresh wild mushrooms, and the Shaoxing wine with a mixture of a mid priced red Burgundy wine and cider vinegar. This sort of thoughtful improvisation seemed to work. However for those not familiar with Chinese ingredients or techniques I would recommend reading the introductory pages which give you the basis for any straying from the recipes you may wish to try.   One concern is that her menu ideas don't give any indication of how long they take to put together - I spent nearly three hours putting together a 5 dish menu for the nine people I cooked for; not a problem for the dedicated cook but not something you would expect for an 'ordinary Chinese' meal. I suggest you try out one or two dishes before tackling the menu ideas, to give yourself an idea of what you can manage. It is also well worth reading the side commentaries of each recipe which suggest how to  adapt them as well as offering some background to their origins.   Exeter is very lucky in having a number of independent stores that specialise in Chinese and South East Asian produce so shopping for the ingredients that Dunlop refers to is now very easy, especially in the city centre. I have come across eight such stores and have listed them at the end of this article. If you know of others please let me know.   As with much cooking, once you have mastered the basics that Dunlop describes this book gives you a great opportunity to use those techniques to great effect; don't bother with the take-away, just stock up from one of Exeter's ethnic stores (listed below)  and while away an afternoon having spicy fun.     Exeter stores specialising in Chinese and South East Asian food and ingredients   BHL Oriental Food Store, 1 - 4 King William Street, behind Sidwell Street and below the John Lewis car park   Yonk Asian Foods, Summerland Street, just off Sidwell Street   RJ Oriental Foods, City Arcade, between Fore Street and Smythen Street   P5 Oriental Food, North Street (very small)   Best One International Stores, Sidwell Street, almost opposite the Odeon Cinema   Heera International Food, 5 - 6 Well Street, opposite St Sidwell's Primary School. This is general store also stocking Indian and Arabic ingredients, as well as Chinese and S E Asian.   Continental Food Stores, Old Tiverton Road. Very similar to Heera's.