£ 4 Become A Pro With These Oriental Recipes If you love to eat oriental foods, but you don’t know how to cook them, this week’s recipes are for you. Cheryl Miller of Hallem offers several tips in preparing Chinese food. She writes: 1 love to cook and eat Chinese foods. I think I’m addicted to them. I’m not a profes sional on Chinese cooking but here are some quick tips that I use quite often. • Buy candied ginger slices instead of the actual ginger root. You can find it in a small bow in the Chinese section of the super market. Candied ginger slices last Get Acquainted With Oriental Vegetables BEAN SPROUTS: Raw or cooked, crisp-textured ivory shoots add crunchy goodness to recipes. Select fresh-looking spr outs. Refrigerate and use within a few days. Rinse sprouts and drain well right before use. Bean sprouts provide fiber and vitamin C. A 'A cup serving has 16 calories. BOK CHOY: With its crisp, crunchy, ivory-white ribs and ten der green leaves bok choy offers contrasts in color and texture. The stalks are mild, juicy, with a hint of sweetness. The leaves have a light cabbage flavor. Select bok choy with fresh-looking leaves that are dark green and shiny. Store refrigerated in a plastic bag and use with a few days, a 'A cup serving has IS calories and is a good sour ce for vitamins A and C. CHINESE CABBAGE: There are several green varieties often marked as Chinese cabbage. Nap pa is cylindrically shaped with smooth white ribs and yellow white or green crinkled leaves. Celery cabbage is mote elongated in shape than nappa and resembles romaine lettuce in appearance. It has long white ribs that are crowned by light green leaves. Either of these varieties is milder in flavor than head cabbage and more lender, crisp and juicy. CHEESE BROCCOLI: Leafier, lighter green and longer stemmed than the more common variety. BITTER MELON: Shaped like a cucumber or sometimes pear shaped, bitter melons have a ridged and pebbled skin. When immature, they’re bright green, firm-fleshed and bitter. As they ripen, they become slightly sweet, soft and orange. Best quality melons are green-luming-yellow, yet still firm. CHINESE BEANS: Slender beans, either light or dark green, range in length from one to three feet. Darker Bom On The Range longer than ginger root. • Put 2 or 3 slices in a baggie and break into small pieces with a ham mer or other instrument. You can add this to 'A cup soy sauce and ‘A cup water. Mixed with 2 table spoons cornstarch. If you would like, you can also add 'A teaspoon Chinese Five spice to this mixture. This gives a basic sauce to add to all chopped vegetables. • When stir-frying, take spatula down the side of the pan lifting the vegetables on the bottom up to the top. This allows the vegetables to cook evenly. • Add sesame oil for flavoring. This gives Chinese food a nutlike beans are generally better flavored and firmer in texture. Taste is the same as the more familiar green bean. CHINESE OKRA: Tender amd succulent, resembling the more familiar variety. Slice raw into salads; add to soups or stews; stir-fry; or deep-fry in batter. CHINESE WATER CHEST NUTS: Prized for their firm white flesh and sweet nutty taste, these crisp-textured tubers are per fect for salads, casseroles, meat, seafood, and stir-fry dishes. Look for fresh looking tubers at least I'A inches in diameter. Store loosely wrapped in a plastic bag; use promply. Peel just before using. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Chestnuts retain their crispness after cooking. DAIKON: An oriental radish shaped like a crrot and generally white, although varieties may dif fer in color. Its tastes similar to other radishes, with a sharper, nip pier taste. Select firm, smooth roots. The larger sizes may be pit ty. Oriental radishes should be used promptly for best flavor and texture. Scrub skin or scrape skin with a swivel peeler. GINGER ROOT: Golden brown knobby tubers that may be grated, sliced or shredded and used for flavoring meat, vegetables, and desserts. JAPANESE EGGPLANT: A slender, smaller sweeter variety than the American one. Can be baked, stir-fried, grilled, sauteed or used like the American variety. SNOW PEAS: These translu cent green pods contribute color, crunchy texture and delicious taste to recipes. Choose fresh, crisp, thin pods in which the outline of the peas is barely visible. Keep refrigerated in plastic and use promptly. LONG flavor. Add sparingly as you would an extract. CHICKEN STIR FRY 1 pound chicken, sliced into bite-sized strips 1 egg white 1 teaspoon cornstarch 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon soy sauce Dash white pepper 1 pound mushrooms, sliced 2 tablespoons cornstarch 2 tablespoons cold water 2 cloves garlic, Finely chopped 1 teaspoon gingerroot, finely chopped 'A cup chicken broth 1 package Chinese pea pods 1 tablespoon oyster sauce Vegetable oil Mix egg white, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, salt, soy sauce, and pepper in bowl. Add chicken and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch and the cold water. Heat wok or skillet until hot. Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, rotate pan to coat sides and bottom. Stir-fry chicken, garlic, and ging erroot until chicken turns while. Remove from pan. Heat pan again and add 2 tables poons oil. Stir fry mushrooms for 1 minute. Stir in chicken and chick en broth; bring to a boil. Add cornstarch mixture. Cook until thickened. Add pea pods and oys ter sauce. Cook for 1 minute while stirring. Serve over hot white rice. Serves 4. Cheryl Miller Hallem EGG DROP SOUP 2 13’/« -ounce cans chicken broth 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1 well-beaten egg 2 tablespoons sliced green onion In saucepan, slowly stir the chicken broth into cornstarch. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened. Slowly pour in the well beaten egg, stir once gently. Remove from heat. Garnish with green onion. Makes 4 servings. Tammy Forbes With the BEEF STIR FRY 1 pound sirloin, sliced thin 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1 tablespoon grated ginger, optional 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 large onion, chopped 6 scallions, sliced lengthwise 2 carrots, sliced thin 1 cup celery, sliced 2 cups snow peas 1 sweet red pepper, sliced 1 cup sliced mushrooms 1 tablespoon cornstarch Marinade: combine meat, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic in a bowl. Cover and set in refrigerator for 1 hour. In wok, heat oil over medium Send Recipe Contest Entry Immediately In a salute to dairy farmers, Lancaster Farming wants to show our readers how versatile and great lasting dairy products are in appetizers, dips, soups, breads, main dishes, vegetables, desserts, beverages, snacks, and salads. And, we want to give you an opportunity to win a cow well, not a real one, but a replica of one. Jot down your favorite recipe using dairy products and send it to Lancaster Farming for the annual Recipe Dairy Drawing. If your name is drawn, you will receive one of the following prizes —all highlighting the cow: afghan, placcmats, milk pitcher, mail box, porch mat, Jersey cow plaque, Holstein cow plaque, towel rack, paper towel holder, stuffed cow, appliqued pillow top, padded photo album, “Pennsylvania Farm Women Cookbook,” “From Mother’s Cupboard Cookbook.” “TMR Cookbook,” “Schuylkill Fair Cookbook.” or "Real Royal Recipes,” recipes compiled by dairy princesses. Please send your rcc ipc using a sizable quantity of at least one of the following ingredients: milk, cream, sour cream, butter, yogurt, butter milk, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, cream cheese, orany other hard or soft cheese. Print or type your recipe and be sure to give accurate measurements, tefnperatures, limes, and sizes of baking dishes to use. Be sure to print your name, full address, and phone number on the recipe. Please include a few paragraphs about yourself or your family. Although it is not required, we’d like a picture of you or your family to include with the recipe. All recipes submitted wi|l be printed during the month of June. Also, included will be the photo and sentences telling us about yourself and your family. Our readers especially like to read these tidbits of infor mation as it helps to make us feel like “family.” Even if you entered the drawing other years, we want you to participate again. Send your entry to Lou Ann Good, Lancaster Farming Dairy Recipe Drawing, P.O. Box 609, 1 E. Main St, Ephrata, PA 17522. Only one recipe per family, please. Send it immediately as the entries must be postmarked by June 1. e, 01 do. easy heat. Add onions and scallions, saute until onions are translucent. Remove meat from marinade, reserving marinade. Add carrots, celery, snow peas, red peppers, and marinade to wok. Stir 4 minutes until vegetables are soft Add mushrooms. Push vegetables up sU|s of wok. increase heat to mediujn-high. Add meat and brown. Reduce heat to medium low and push everything up side of wok. Combine cornstarch mixtuj# to sauce; mix until thickenedUk'dd pepper to taste. Stir until hot. Serve over rice. Judy Stayman Chambersburg (Turn to Pago B 7) A