Paradox Blog

Rarely is food served uncooked in Chinese meals. Salad dishes are no exception. Though they are served chilled, the ingredients in them are often cooked. They are delicious none the same. Here are a few examples.

Eggplant Strips with Garlic and Sesame Oil Dressing

4 medium sized Chinese or Japanese eggplants
4 cloves of garlic
1 table spoon of sesame oil
1 table spoon of soy sauce

Cut eggplants lengthwise into 2 inch long cylinders. Bring water to boil. Cook eggplants in water covered for about 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of eggplant, till tender in the center. Test the tenderness with chopsticks or a fork. If the chopsticks pierce through the eggplant easily then it's tender enough. Submerge cooked eggplants in cold water to bring down the temperature. When eggplants are cold enough to be handled by hand, drain them and hand-shred them following the grain of the plant. Place shredded eggplants in a plant and chill until ready to serve. When serving sprinkle minced garlic onto eggplant, mix sesame oil and soy sauce, pour sauce over eggplant, toss and serve.

Wasabe Marinated Celery

1 stalk of celery
1/2 table spoon of wasabe paste
1 table spoon of soy sauce
1 table spoon of olive oil

Break celery into bite-sized chunks and remove tough fibers. One stalk of celery makes about two cups of tender bite-sized chunks. Cook celery in boiling water for about 1 minutes. Submerge in cold water to cool. Drain water and set aside in a large bowl. Wasabe comes in powder form in little tin cans or in ready-to-serve paste form in tubes. Both can be found in major supermarkets all over the bay area. Mix the powdered wasabe with a little water to make paste. In a small bowl, blend together soy sauce, olive oil and wasabe paste with a spoon. Pour mixture onto celery. Toss and chill until ready to serve.

Spinach and Bean Curb Mix

1 bunch of fresh spinach stalks, or 4 cups of spinach leaves, fresh preferred
4 pieces of bean curb, about 8 oz
1 table spoon of sesame oil
pinch of salt

Blanch spinach in boiling water. Remove promptly. Submerge in cold water to stop cooking process. Wring out excess water from spinach. Mince spinach. Make about one cup minced spinach. Boil bean curb for about 1 minutes. Cool and cut into quarter inch little cubes. mix spinach and bean curb, and chill until ready to serve. Before serving add salt and sesame oil to spinach and bean curb mixture. Blend well and serve.