Cooking with
Chinese herbs

I love cooking with Chinese herbs. They have a very distinct flavour which most people here in UK are unfamiliar with. So they are good for impressing the 'westerners' with my 'exotic' Asian cooking.

To be honest, I didn't really cook much when I was in Singapore. I made up most of the recipes that I cook here. So they probably aren't authentic. But nevertheless, my British friends are impressed (or out of politeness they act so).

Here's a list of herbs that I use in my mix. They should be quite easily available in Asian grocery stores, and should be fairly cheap (£1 to £4 per packet). They can normally be found in the dried food section.

Goji Berries (枸杞子)

Other names: Wolfberries, Red meddler, 大红杞子, Lycium barbarum.

These are supposed to be some kind of superfood. They have a nice sweet taste. I usually add 2-3 times of these than any of the other herbs, using this as the base or main ingredient of the mixture.

Dang Gui (当归)

Other names: Dried Nang Gui, 當歸片，Chinese Angelica, Angelica sinensis

This herb has a very strong flavour, so I would usually add only 2-3 pieces of it. Though it is not usually eaten, but only used to flavour the soup/sauce, I like eating it. Not sure why it isn't usually eaten. I've not felt any side effects of eating it so far.

Dang Shen (党参)

Other names: Codonopsis root, Tangshen Root

Again, I use sparing amounts of this. Maybe 2 pieces. Like the Dang Gui, this is not usually eaten, but used for the flavour. You'll soon find out why if you try to eat a piece. It is very very hard and unchewable. The flavour is not as strong as Dang Gui's. You can leave this out if it's too much trouble to get it.

Solomon's Seal (玉竹)

Other names: Yu Zhu

Another optional herb. It doesn't really have much flavour, but it tastes quite nice and crunchy. Note: I think it's supposed to be much paler than in this picture. Mine has expired for nearly 2.5 years now. That's why it looks so yellow here.

These Chinese herbs are good for cooking wet dishes, such as soup, stew, or oven baked stuff. One of my favourites is oven baked salmon. This is my made-up fusion dish, I don't think Chinese eat salmon much, but it works very well here in the UK.

I would mix the salmon fillet with the Chinese herbs, some soy sauce, some cooking sake (or wine), some grapefruit juice (magic ingredient that I accidentally discovered), some optional rosemary, and wrap everything up in an aluminium foil. It should be quite wet, with the foil keeping the juices in. Then put the whole thing in an oven and bake for 45 mins or so in moderate heat.

Have fun!

Photographs by Peter Collingridge.