Treats to beat the summer heat

Editor's note: To understand China, sit down to eat. Food is the indestructible bond that holds the whole social fabric together and it is also one of the last strong visages of community and culture.

July is when the weather map is splotched in shades of red and yellow and when most of China swelters and sweats under oppressive low pressure. This is "sauna weather", a period when sanfu conditions prevail.

Sanfu translates as canicular days (literally the three wilting periods). It's wedged between the solar terms of "little heat" and "beginning of autumn", marking a time when the weather is at its hottest and most humid and all life wilts or comes to a standstill.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, this is a stressful time for the human body because it becomes most susceptible to the so-called six poisons: wind, chill, heat, humidity, dryness and fire.

As TCM agrees with Hippocrates that food is medicine, learning how to eat correctly in summer is most important. Fresh, seasonal and light are all recommended, while heavy, fried foods and overly strong flavors should be avoided.

This is when the art of liangbancai - cold, tossed dishes - comes into its own. You may call it the Chinese interpretation of a Western salad, but we've been eating this a very long time. These are normally appetizers served at the beginning of a meal, designed to titillate taste buds dulled by the summer heat and with curative qualities to battle the seasonal poisons. Most are chilled and meatless.

A simple classic is smashed cucumbers, a dish that almost every household will serve in summer, with some slight variations. It can't get any simpler, as the dish usually takes just minutes to prepare.

Sections of cucumber are flattened with a well-aimed smack from the side of a cleaver. This makes it easier to eat, and the semi-pulverized cucumbers can also better absorb the dressing of garlic, vinegar and sesame oil. The juicy cucumber quenches thirst, the vinegar stimulates appetite, and the minced garlic acts as a germ deterrent in the raw dish.

Sometimes, familiar ingredients are given an unexpected twist that is uniquely Chinese. Another cold, tossed dish is seasonal tomatoes, which are thickly cut and eaten with a sprinkle of sugar to cut the acidity.

Not all Chinese salads are raw, though. Some ingredients have to be prepared beforehand.

Eggplant can be steamed, dressed with salt and garlic and left to ferment. The resulting pickle is served shredded and chilled, sometimes with more minced garlic as garnish.

Black wood ear fungus, a Chinese pantry staple, is also blanched before being chilled and marinated with an acidic dressing. This mushroom is often used to treat high levels of cholesterol and blood lipids.

Tofu products are also popular in summer as they are lightly flavored. Bean curd sheets are cut into tiny shreds and tossed with soy sauce and sesame oil while gluten puffs are braised in a sweet wine and soy sauce broth, which all arrives at the table chilled.

Squashes and melons, which have slightly diuretic properties, are harvested during the hot days and therefore in season.

Winter melon batons are dried and then rehydrated in orange juice to create refreshing and colorful strips. The melon is also popular in soups, simply cooked with small meatballs for flavor and then garnished with fresh coriander. Another summer favorite is slices of winter melon sandwiched with slivers of salty ham and steamed. Other squashes like zucchini are often grated and mixed into a simple batter to create light, thin crepes called hulutazi.

Salads, stir-fries and steamed dishes are the cooking styles of the summer, and the seasoning tends to be lighter, with fresh onions, ginger, garlic and whites of leeks used as aromatics.

In southern China, chefs and their diners are used to humidity and heat year-round and have their own ways to battle the weather. Here, they are less inclined to eat raw food in a climate where warm and wet can create ideal conditions for bacteria. Instead, they believe in the nourishing qualities of a well-brewed pot of soup, with appropriate herbal tonics added to suit the season.

Chinese herbs such as angelica root, astragalus, various types of ginseng, wolfberries and dried Chinese yam are used together with duck or lean pork to create medical broths. In summer, duck is often preferred to chicken because waterfowl is believed to be more cooling.

Similarly, watercress is boiled long and slow with lean pork ribs for a nourishing soup that will ease the ill effects of too much heat. Summer is when seaweed is also eaten a lot.

This idea of association is also applied to another southern classic: the sweet soup. White and green are cooling colors.

Snow pears are chilled and juiced as well as often steamed with sweet and bitter apricot kernels for a hot-weather dessert.

Green mung beans are also cooked into a soup and served hot or cold to help the body cool off. This is something both the north and south share, as mung bean water is a universal cooler in China.

At the root of all this is the belief that every ingredient is chosen to work for the body and with the body to combat the effects of heat and humidity. Food sustains and revitalizes, and with the right food it can still be a healthy and happy summer until the cooler weather of autumn arrives.

paulined@chinadaily.com.cn

Cold, tossed dishes to try

Smashed cucumbers

Ingredients:

1 large telegraph cucumber Salt

3-4 cloves of garlic, skinned and minced

2 tablespoons of rice vinegar (or any white vinegar)

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Method:

Clean and dry the cucumbers and cut off the tips. Sprinkle some salt on the cutting board and roll the cucumber hard against the salt. Leave for a few minutes to draw out the water.

Rinse cucumber and dry well. Cut into 5-centimeter sections and smash with the side of a cleaver. Pile the flattened cucumber onto a plate.

Mix the garlic, vinegar and sesame oil and add salt to taste. Pour the dressing over the cucumber and chill until ready to serve.

Wood ear and carrot salad

Ingredients:

10-15 pieces of dried wood ear fungus, soaked in lots of water

1 carrot, thinly sliced then julienned

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of Chinese black vinegar

1-2 tablespoons of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds

Method:

Blanch the plumped up wood ear for five minutes in boiling water, drain well and set aside. Slightly salt the carrot strips and squeeze out any water.

Mix the carrot and wood ear and toss to mix before chilling.

Just before serving, mix the garlic, vinegar, sesame oil and soy sauce. Drizzle over the wood ear and carrot mixture and garnish with toasted sesame.