30 years later, Yan still cooking
Martin Yan is at the stove with a sizzling wok in hand, tossing baby bok choy with a deft flick of the wrist.
“Try some,” he says, chopstick-ing a helping of tender-crisp vegetables that sing with flavor.
Now in his 30th year on television, Yan is still cooking – and spreading the message of honest food cooked fresh the Asian way.
“I think it’s passion,” says Yan of a career that spans more than 2,000 episodes broadcast worldwide. “If you’re not passionate, if you don’t like what you do – you don’t even last for three years.”
This year, that passion expresses itself in a new public television series, “Martin Yan’s China,” an exploration of the different schools of Chinese cooking that is part travelogue, part cooking instruction.
The show – as well as the companion book Yan wrote – covers material that would have been impossible to introduce to Americans when Yan launched his television career. At the time, soy sauce was exotic and a wok was a funny shaped frying pan you had to look hard to find.
“People didn’t have chopsticks in their homes, people didn’t go out for dim sum,” says Tina Ujlaki, executive food editor of Food & Wine magazine, who calls Yan “an amazing teacher.”
Now, “everybody has a bottle of soy sauce, guaranteed. Everybody has a wok at home,” says Yan.
So as his audience has become more sophisticated, Yan has branched out, too, traveling to southeast Asia and beyond and exploring the cultural heritage behind the dishes he presents.
“Every time I go back to China I try to go to different restaurants, learn new things,” he says. “I learn new things every day so then I incorporate. Today the dishes that I do are very unique.”
Born in Guangzhou in southern China, Yan, 59, started his career in food as a 13-year-old apprentice at a Hong Kong restaurant. He studied at the Overseas Institute of Cookery in Hong Kong, then took up food science at the University of California, Davis. He started teaching in the university’s extension program and in the late ‘70s began the TV cooking career that led to “Yan Can Cook.”
In some ways, he has returned to his roots. Late last year, Yan opened Martin Yan’s Culinary Arts Center in Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong. The center offers a variety of cooking programs that range from intensive courses for Chinese and Western professional chefs to more relaxed programs for home cooks and food lovers.
In person and on screen, Yan presents his recipes in an upbeat and engaging manner that still allows the food to be the star.
“I’m not a talk show person,” says Yan. “Basically, my whole goal is to teach people how to enjoy cooking at home.”
His goal is to inspire viewers “and encourage them and excite them to get in the kitchen right away and do things,” he says. “The whole slogan is Yan can, so can you.”
In his shows, Yan likes to joke around some – he’s fond of puns – but “there’s such an unbelievable foundation to everything he does,” Ujlaki says. “He loves to be busy and active and on. I think that’s what he thrives on. He’s just totally in touch with our craving to learn more.”
To would-be chefs he has this caveat: Culinary school costs a lot; starter kitchen jobs pay a little. So, if you don’t like what you do, “don’t bother because this is a tough business.”
The secret is realizing “you can never be somebody else,” he says. “Just be yourself.”
On a recent rainy day, Yan was practicing what he preaches as he put together a meal in his large, bright kitchen. He started with shrimp “tulips” – shrimp puree nestled in the trimmed bases of baby bok choy, then steamed. He used a food processor to puree most of the shrimp, but whipped out a cleaver to show he’s perfectly capable of pulverizing shrimp, old-school style.
Once the tulips were in the steamer, he had a colander full of extra bok choy leaves on his hands, which inspired a quick stir-fry with garlic, ginger and some dried chilies.
The result – delicious.
Or, as he put it, with a broad smile, “Simple!”
Tangerine Peel Chicken
Television chef Martin Yan uses dried tangerine peel to give this chicken dish added flavor. If you can’t find any, the recipe still tastes great without it. Adapted from Martin Yan’s “Martin Yan’s China,” (Chronicle Books, 2008)
2-inch piece dried tangerine peel (available at Asian markets)
2 fresh tangerines
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine or dry sherry
12 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into thin strips
For the sauce:
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice wine or dry sherry
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
For the stir-fry:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
8 small dried red chilies
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and julienned
2 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
In a small bowl, soak the dried tangerine peel in warm water until softened, about 20 minutes. Drain, cut into narrow strips and set aside.
Slice off the ends of the tangerines. Hold the fruit with one cut side on the cutting board and use a paring knife to remove the peel in strips, working your way around the fruit. Cut deeply enough to remove the white pith.
Slice fruit into segments, cutting the flesh away from the membranes. Place the flesh in a small bowl.
Discard half of the tangerine peels. Cut away and discard the white pith from the remaining half, then cut the peels into long narrow strips. Place peel in a small bowl and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the cornstarch, soy sauce and wine. Add the chicken and stir to coat evenly. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet or wok over high. Add the oil and swirl to coat the sides of the pan.
Add the onion, chilies and ginger, then stir-fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink at the center.
Add the scallions and the dried and fresh tangerine peels; stir-fry until the green onions soften, about 1 minute. Add the sauce and bring to a boil.
Add the tangerine segments and stir to coat with the sauce. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, about 30 seconds.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 250 calories, 10 grams fat (2 grams saturated, 37 percent fat calories), 20 grams protein, 18 grams carbohydrate, 51 milligrams cholesterol, 4 grams dietary fiber, 600 milligrams sodium.
Ginger Garlic Baby Bok Choy
This simple stir-fry of bok choy from television chef Martin Yan is light, but full of flavor. Adapted from Martin Yan’s “Martin Yan’s China,” (Chronicle Books, 2008)
1 pound baby bok choy
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
2 tablespoons rice wine or dry sherry
2 teaspoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
3 small dried red chilies
Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with cold water.
Trim the ends of the bok choy, separating and rinsing the leaves.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the bok choy to the water in the saucepan. Blanch the bok choy for 1 minute, or until bright green. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bok choy to the cold water. Let them cool briefly, then drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the rice wine, oyster sauce, soy sauce and remaining salt. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over high, swirling the pan to coat the sides. Add the garlic, ginger and chilies and sauté until fragrant, about 10 seconds.
Add the bok choy and sauce and sauté until the liquid has reduced by half, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Yield: 4 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 70 calories, 3.8 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated, 45 percent fat calories), 2 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 2 grams dietary fiber, 1,026 milligrams sodium.
Shrimp Tulips
This dim sum recipe from television chef Martin Yan uses bok choy as an attractive wrapper for shrimp dumplings. Adapted from Martin Yan’s “Martin Yan’s China,” Chronicle Books, 2008)
For the mousse:
3 scallions, white parts only, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
10 ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 egg white
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
For the tulip shells:
12 baby bok choy
2 tablespoons cornstarch
For the sauce:
1/4 cup bottled clam juice
1/2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 teaspoons cool water
3 tablespoons fish roe (optional)
To make the mousse, in a food processor combine the scallions, garlic and ginger and pulse until minced.
Add the shrimp, egg white, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, salt and white pepper. Pulse 5 times to finely chop all the ingredients, then pulse in 5-second intervals, until they form a smooth paste.
Transfer the mousse to a bowl, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. The mousse can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
While the mousse chills, prepare the “tulip” shells.
Remove the first outer layer of leaves from each head of bok choy. To create the tulip, trim each head, 1 1/2 inches from the root end, cutting straight across the root end to create a flat base on which it can stand.
Each tulip should have about 3 petals. To shape the petals, use a pairing knife to cut a “V” into each one, then use a small melon baller to scoop out the core of each tulip. Refrigerate until the mousse has chilled.
When ready to assemble, fill a large skillet or wok with about 2 inches of water and set over medium-high heat. Place a bamboo or other steamer basket over the skillet or wok.
While the water warms, lightly dust each “tulip” with cornstarch, shaking off any excess. Fill each with a rounded tablespoon of the shrimp mousse, using a wet finger to smooth the top of the mousse.
Stand the filled bok choy in the steamer. Cover and steam until the shrimp mousse is just cooked through, about 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the clam juice, oyster sauce and white pepper. Bring to a boil, then stir in the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until it returns to a boil and thickens.
Transfer the “tulips” to a serving plate. Garnish each with fish roe. Spoon the sauce around the plate and serve.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Approximate nutrition per serving: 84 calories, 2 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated, 18 percent fat calories), 11 grams protein 6 grams carbohydrate, 71 milligrams cholesterol, 1 gram dietary fiber, 388 milligrams sodium.