Cooking with April Woo

April Woo Spring Menu

- by Leslie Glass

Spring is always a special time in New York. For one thing, a New April Woo novel often comes out with the last of the spring flowers in June. This year, the rebirth of nature (and New Yorkers along with it) has been a long time coming. For months, the cold was piercing, and the snowfall seemingly endless with almost weekly assaults on the whole top half of North America. Then in March, April, and deep into May, the weather was unpredictable. Rain, rain wouldn't go away. It was cold. It was hot. What April Woo does in both good times and bad is cook and eat. And when she's not cooking and eating or solving crimes, she's planning for meals down the road. Here are some meals that can be largely prepared ahead of time and cooked at the very last minute. The Cheesecake is at its best the next day. Some of us, however, can't wait that long and don't wait for company to make it.

• Chicken Wings Two Ways: Fried Chicken Lollipops, Stuffed Chicken Wings Hoisin Sauce
• Spicy Velvet Shrimp with Almonds and Chinese Cabbage
• Shredded Scallion and Pea pods with Cellophane Noodles (Serve hot or at room temperature)
• Bean Sprout Salad with Red Ginger and Peanuts
• April Woo New York Cheesecake

Since food for the Chinese is more than just a way of getting sustenance, it's not surprising that many Chinese recipes require thought and several steps. Marinating, then twice or even three times cooking foods are common practices in all the cuisines of China. Although it may seem far too much trouble for the busy modern cook, April has found a way around daily shopping trips by stocking up on staples. She can make many of her favorite recipes at the end of a long day just by picking up one or two items, or without having to go to the store at all. So, stock your pantry.

If you have the ingredients below, you have the ingredients for most sauces and marinades.

Soy sauce, hoisin sauce, saki or vodka, fresh garlic, and fresh ginger, cornstarch, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, chicken broth, Chinese chili sauce, and ketchup,

Chinese cooks have to have the freshest vegetables and fish. But some everyday items are dried or canned or frozen.

Cellophane noodles, rice noodles, egg noodles, and mushrooms are commonly-used dried foods.

Baby corn, straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, lycees, mandarin orange slices, pickled radishes, pickled ginger, and other pickled vegetables are canned or bottled.

Foods that can be kept on hand in the freezer are chicken wings, available in large economy bags in most grocery stores, cleaned raw shrimp, flank steak, whole chickens, pork loin, and lamb.

Firm Tofu, garlic and fresh ginger found in the vegetable section can be kept for weeks.

If you have these staples on hand, all that might be needed from the store for this spring menu are the pea pods, scallions, red pepper, Chinese cabbage, and bean sprouts. Plus sour cream, cream cheese, eggs and cottage cheese or ricotta for the cheesecake.

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Fried Chicken Lollipops

• 12 (or more) chicken wings

Marinade:

• 2 TBLS dark soy
• 1 TBLS honey
• 1 TBLS Saki
• pinch five spice powder

Batter

• 1 large egg
• 1 TBLS water
• 1 TBLS flour
• 2 TBLS Cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups vegetable oil for frying

With a sharp knife separate the chicken wings at the joints. Discard the tips. Reserve middle section for Stuffed Chicken Wings. For lollipops use only the drumstick end of the wing.

Cut off cartilage of smallest end of drumstick to loosen meat. Scrape the meat halfway down to fattest end. Mix ingredients of marinade, add wing drumsticks, and marinate for a few minutes, a few hours, or overnight.

To prepare batter: Beat egg with water until well mixed; then add flour, cornstarch and salt. Mix until smooth and let rest for at least ten minutes.

To fry: Heat oil in a frying pan until a drop of batter puffs up and turns golden; no hotter than 350 degrees. Dip wing drumsticks in batter and fry gently for seven to ten minutes, until golden brown and fully cooked, turning once or twice to even browning. If wings turn brown too fast, lower heat. Drain on paper towels. Serve and savor.

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Stuffed chicken wings

• 12 or more middle section chicken of chicken wings
• 2 scallions slivered into strips
• 4 dried mushrooms soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, then sliced into thin strips
• 5 peapods slivered into strips

Basting Glaze

• 2 TBLS Hoisin sauce
• 1 TBLS sesame oil
• 2 TBLS soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar, Splenda, or honey

Simmer chicken wings in lightly boiling water.
Flavor lightly boiling water with 2 TBLS dark soy sauce and 2 TBLS Saki.
Add chicken wings and simmer for 4 minutes.
Drain and let rest until cool enough to handle.

Traditional Chinese cooks will remove the bones at this point.
To remove the two bones, sever the joints on both sides and carefully slide them out, breaking the chicken "package" only on one side. April can do this in a snap, but it's tricky so you may not want to bother. For the same effect leave the bones in and gently insert on the inside of the wing a slice each of mushroom, scallion and pea pod. When all wings are stuffed, arrange on an greased baking pan stuffed side down. This can be prepared up to a day ahead and refrigerated.

To cook: Baste with basting glaze and bake in toaster oven or conventional oven at 350° for twenty minutes until cooked through and crispy.

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Spicy Velvet Shrimp with Almonds and Chinese Cabbage

• 3/4 lb cleaned shrimp, tail part intact
• 1/4 cup whole toasted blanched almonds
• 1 red pepper sliced in thin two-inch strips
• 3 cups Chinese cabbage cut in two inch squares
• 2 whole scallions sliced into fine rings for garnish
  
• 1 inch piece of peeled ginger, grated or chopped fine
• 1 small clove of garlic mashed with huge knife then chopped fine
• 2 or 3 TBLS vegetable oil of choice

All of this can be prepared ahead and set aside in the refrigerator.

Sauce

• 2 TBLS saki
• 1 TBL soy sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp cornstarch dissolved in the chicken broth
• 1 tsp sugar or honey or splenda
• 1 tsp (or less) Chinese chili garlic sauce

Marinade to velvet shrimp

• 1 egg white
• 2 tsps cornstarch
• 2 TBLS saki
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1TBLS kosher salt

Beat egg white until foamy, add the rest of the ingredients and marinate shrimps for a few hours or overnight.

To cook: Assemble all the ingredients. Drop shrimp into simmering water, then remove in thirty seconds, before shrimp is cooked through. Set shrimps aside on a plate.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat oil until almost smoking, then add ginger and garlic, swirl in the pan until the flavors are released, then add the almonds and red pepper and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add Chinese cabbage, saki, soy sauce, sugar and stir fry only until wilted. Add shrimps, chili sauce and well-mixed chicken broth with cornstarch. Stir fry only until shrimps are cooked through and hot. Put on lovely plate and garnish with scallion rings.

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Scallion and Pea pods with cellophane Noodles

• 1 (or 2 bunches) scallions
• 2 cups pea pods
• 1 package cellophane noodles (or egg noodles)
• 1 inch peeled ginger chopped fine or grated
• 1 clove garlic chopped fine or grated (optional)
• 2 TBLS vegetable oil
• 3 TBLS saki
• 2 TBLS light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar or honey or Splenda
• 1/4 cup chicken broth

To prepare

Cut ends off the scallions, then cut into 2 inch lengths. Shred the 2 inch strips into the thinnest slivers.
Julienne the pea pods into thin strips the same way.
Soak the cellophane noodles in warm water for twenty minutes (If using egg noodles, cook al dente in boiling water, rinse with cold water, toss with 2 TBLS sesame or peanut oil and set aside).

In a wok or large frying pan, heat oil until it shimmers. Add garlic and ginger stir fry only long enough to release flavors. Add pea pods and stir fry one minute. Add scallions, stir fry to mix. Add saki, soy sauce, sugar, chicken broth and noodles and cook only to heat and mix all the ingredients well. Remove to a lovely plate and eat hot or room temperature or cold.

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Bean Sprout Salad

• 2 or 3 cups nice and plump bean sprouts washed well.
• 3 scallions shredded (as above)
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
• 2 TBLS red pickled ginger slivers (sold in Japanese section of your grocery store)
• 1 TBLS vegetable oil
• 2 TBLS rice vinegar
• 2 TBLS light soy sauce
• 1 TBLS sake
• 1 TBLS sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar or Splenda

To Prepare:

In Wok or large frying pan, heat vegetable oil. Add all the ingredients and stir fry vigorously only long enough to wilt vegetables and release the flavors of the dressing, not more than a minute or two. Quickly remove to a platter. Serve at room temperature or chill.

For a more sweet and sour dressing add vinegar and sugar to taste. For more shimmer add another TBLS sesame oil.

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April Woo New York Cheesecake

• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 8oz package reduced-fat cream cheese
• 1 cup ricotta, drained of water (or cottage cheese, or 1 package farmer cheese)
• 2/3 cup sugar (or Splenda)
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
• 4 eggs

Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth and silky. Pour into a spring form baking pan. Take 2 squares of tinfoil and wrap the bottom very carefully. If you don't have a spring form baking pan, you can pour the batter into a ten-inch round, deep-dish ceramic pie pan.

Place pan in a container of hot water so that the water comes halfway up. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off the oven but leave in for 1 more hour. Remove, cool, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Unmold from spring form and carefully loosen bottom with a knife. Plate and serve with fresh berries. If baked in a deep dish pie plate, do not attempt to unmold. Serve directly from baking dish with fresh berries on the side. Serves 8 to 12.

April likes it so much she eats it for breakfast (so does Leslie). It's loaded with protein and if you use the sweetener Splenda instead of sugar, it has almost no carbohydrates, so you can splurge even if you're on a diet.

As we say on the Lower East Side, in the Bronx and in Chinatown: Enjoy!

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