[a medicinal cooking blog: using food as medicine to treat whatever may ail you]
Showing posts with label chongqing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chongqing. Show all posts

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Few Nibbles and a Bit of News


The reason I have been missing in action on here is I have thrown myself into the last few months of work for the launch of the new and improved Spice Doc site. It will still live at www.thespicedoc.com but not too long from now you will be directed to a fresh new site, with lots of exciting functions that will be unveiled when it's up. Who knew it could take so much love and work to build one of these? I have had my phenomenal friend, artist, and designer, Patricia Callison, imagining away at this for over a year now. If you want to see her incredible work go to Made in Mind. And about 6 months or so ago, Conor Browne, the Spice Doc programmer, joined and has been making Trish's beautiful ideas come to life with his own brilliance. In the meantime I chip away at the content little by little.


While I've been doing that, I've also been cooking up a (medicinal) storm with all kinds of herbs and ingredients, studying Mandarin 4 hours+++ every day, and have begun to translate medicinal cook book recipes into English. A few chefs have opened their doors for me to show me one on one their secret medicinal recipes. And many more people have shared what they've learned from their grandmothers, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, doctors, etc. in terms of the strongly ingrained culture of medicinal cooking here in China. Every day I'm learning something new. There's not much more you can ask for! I can't wait to share that with everyone, TCM practitioners and laymen alike.

See you very soon!

Monday, October 10, 2011

Fresh Chickens in Chongqing


I am only 3 days into properly and officially living in Chongqing so there isn't a whole lot to report on through the fog of jet lag still clouding my mind during the days. BUT, I will say, one thing I am considering to do very soon is pick a chicken (or a duck) at the local grocery store to have freshly butchered for us. I know many (or maybe just some) of you will cringe at this. It seems barbaric perhaps? But, I don't know which is more barbaric, the illusion of the shrink wrapped chicken breast in plastic at your local chain grocery or the acknowledgement of where it comes from? I choose the latter. I do have to figure out if these chickens are jacked up on hormones, and while they weren't uber crowded in their final destination, it does bother me on some level that they have to sit there watching us while we choose their fate. They didn't seem overly large by any means (in fact, they looked like a normal size free range chicken does), so fingers crossed they aren't too tainted. Living in Chongqing, I'm not sure how much choice I will have except to eat less meat if that is the case. Which is fine.


In Chinese Medicine, chicken is gently warming, blood building, and easier to digest than beef if you have a compromised immune system or digestive capability. Here is a recipe I posted a while back for chicken adobo.


Chicken is often used to make medicinal soups with a combination of herbs, depending on what you want to target. Gou Qi Zi, Da Zao, Dang Gui, Huang Qi, all these herbs and more can be found floating in a simple chicken stock (made with the bones) in most of the restaurants and homes in China. When I was last here in July we had the opportunity to drink one of the most spectacular 8 hour triple steamed chicken stocks with fritillaria bulb (Chuan Bei Mu) and pear I have ever had. That soup in particular targeted lung and throat dryness, which is something I could use right about now as my throat is reacting rather strongly to the incessant smog.

Making chicken stock with herbs is a great way to eat your medicine. Here are a few suggestions for targeted maladies via chicken stock/soup :

With Chuan Bei Mu and Pear : lung and throat dryness, difficult to expectorate phlegm

With Gou Qi Zi, Da Zao, and Huang Qi : for qi, blood, and yin deficiency (can manifest as constitutional weakness, fatigue, dizziness, short or absent menses)

With Dang Gui : blood stasis, irregular menses, dry constipation


*you can link to each herb by clicking on it above and it will take you to a well respected New York City TCM pharmacy (Kamwo Pharmacy) where you can learn more via their herb index

Friday, July 29, 2011

Welcome to Chongqing




Since I will soon be relocating to Chongqing (formerly Chungking), which just so happens to be Chicago's sister city, I thought I'd share a few snippets of the life and food there. There will be more as the years go by and I delve even further into yao shan (medicinal cooking) which is a big part of why I am going there. Chongqing lies in the heart of China in between the rich agricultural provinces of Sichuan, Hunan, Guizhou, and Hubei. It is the fastest growing city in China, which may really mean, in the world. Already there are 30+ million people living there and those figures don't account for a lot of unregistered people. The city is both inexorably new and old at the same time, a clash that makes for a vivid experience that literally slams into all your senses ... taste being one of them in the ma la (numb - spicy) variety of Sichuan cuisine.

Already on this short reconnaissance trip, I learned a few new medicinal kitchen tricks and recipes. I'm working on learning the 8 hour (sometimes it's 3 days) triple steamed Fritillaria bulb (Chuan Bei Mu) and Pear soup that I was lucky enough to taste at a very special welcome dinner for us. Because it was SO hot (Chongqing is referred to as the "furnace city" in the summer months) I did not partake in their own special style of hot pot, huo guo, but as soon as the Fall chill enters, I'm sure I'll be happily eating many a huo guo meal. For the time being, I'll leave you with a little taste of Chongqing, in no particular order..



La jiao, making chile sauce, the magnificent awakening smell led us there by our noses.


Huangjueping, artist community in Chongqing.




Zhen Zhu, pearls for making Zhen Zhu Fen (pearl powder), a TCM medicinal which treats heart, liver, and skin ailments.



View of the Jialing River from our future balcony.



Ginger outside a little noodle shop.



Winding mountain roads in the old part of Chongqing, Ciqikou.




The famous Sichuan Dandan mian/noodles, spicy and fragrant.




Year of the Rabbit, 2011.



Ciqikou, old part of Chongqing.




Jiefangbei
, the new part of Chongqing, in the evening.





Umbrella culture to save yourself from the burning sun during the summer months.





Hillside vegetable garden, beautifully done.




Grape season.




Watermelons, xi gua, to cool you off.