I am sitting in front of Dr Li Lian Xing, a Chinese herbalist and he is trying to diagnose my malady. For the past few days, I have felt sluggish, slightly achy, and there has been a tickle in my throat. First, he checks the pulses in my right hand and notes that they are weak and rapid. Then he checks my left. Next, he inspects my tongue which, he tells me is pale with a slightly yellowish coating. We discuss my symptoms and he tells me that I have 'heat in my lungs'. He gives me some herbal tea and recommends that I eat yin, or cooling foods, which will draw out the heat. He suggests double-boiled crocodile soup with dangshen and huang qi, two herbs that will also strengthen my immune system. Crocodile meat, he tells me, is also good for the lungs. He also suggests that I eat the braised fresh shitake mushrooms and honey peas. After several days of faithfully following the regimen Dr Li had prescribed, I wake up refreshed with renewed energy and my symptoms have disappeared.
This is no ordinary herbalist's office, although I am surrounded by Chinese herbs. We are at the Imperial Herbal restaurant in Singapore where Dr Li is the resident herbalist. From the day it first opened 14 years ago, the Imperial Herbal has drawn stellar reviews for its food which is a masterful blending of medicinal herbs with Chinese haute cuisine. And Dr Li has attracted a devoted following of customers who come to the restaurant to be diagnosed and treated. At first glance, the menu of the Imperial Herbal looks like any other Chinese restaurant. The offerings include: braised cod with spicy sauce, saut¿ed chilli prawns with walnuts, and orange-peel beef. But if you ask, you will be told that the walnuts, which garnish the chilli prawns, are believed to strengthen the kidneys and nourish the brain, and the orange peel in the beef dish stops coughing and its pith is beneficial to the lungs.
Although many Cantonese restaurants have long offered delicacies that are relished for their flavour and pharmacological benefits - for instance, shark's fin is believed to maintain youth, abalone soothes the lungs and improves eyesight - Chinese herbal cuisine has been mainly confined to home kitchens and the dishes tend to be hearty, unrefined, and bitter-tasting.
The inspiration for the Imperial Herbal restaurant came to Wang-Lee Tee Eng, a Singaporean, when she visited a herbal restaurant in China in the mid-Eighties. She became fascinated with the concept, but she was determined to refine herbal dishes and elevate them to a higher level of haute cuisine, thereby broadening their appeal. She imported two gold-medal master chefs and a herbalist from China to Singapore and directed the chefs to take herbs as well as tonic-like ingredients and subtly interweave them into gourmet specialities.
The idea that illness and disease can be treated with food and herbs is not exclusive to Asia. In London, Uby Munoz, a licensed acupuncturist and a member of the British Acupuncturists Association, often advises her patients to eat different foods for their therapeutic effects. Munoz, who studied traditional Chinese medicine for 25 years, believes in the old clich¿ 'you are what you eat'. 'Eating for pleasure as well as for health has always made a lot of sense to me,' she says, 'but there are particular foods which are especially beneficial.' Since she has diagnosed me with having a weak kidney, the treatment not only includes regular acupuncture sessions, but eating foods like cooked aduki beans and the liquid which is especially good for toning the kidney. Similarly, spinach and other leafy vegetables help to rid the liver of toxins.
Munoz also recommends that people eat foods that keep the body in balance during the different seasons. For example, foods for summer that balance and nourish the fire element are fruits such as grapes, as well as tomatoes, corn, green onions, eggs, green beans, wheat, cinnamon, chestnuts, garlic, lemon, celery and umeboshi pickled plums.
This practice of using food and herbs as medicine can be traced back to ancient China (as well as to ancient India where Ayurvedic medicine was flourishing). The legendary Emperor Shen Nong , who is believed to be the father of agriculture and to have lived around 3000 BC, was the first one to study the healing properties of various plants. He also established the theory of yin and yang, which became the foundation of Chinese culture and philosophy. Yin and yang represent the opposing, yet complimentary forces of the universe. Together they make up the whole. Every object or action can be classified as either yin or yang, and everything is influenced by their constant ebb and flow.
Disease occurs, Chinese doctors believe, when there is an imbalance in the system and food can play a role in correcting and maintaining this balance. All foods are classified as yin, yang, or neutral depending on their effect on the body. Yin foods have a calming effect, while too much yang can trigger hyperactivity. Generally, yang foods, which include eggs, fatty meats and pungent spices, are strong, rich and spicy, while yin foods, such as raw fruits and vegetables and many types of seafood, are bitter, salty and light.
The Chinese also believe that foods are categorised as sweet (earth), bitter (fire), sour (wood), pungent (metal), and salty (water). In turn, each of the flavours influences an organ of the body and corresponds to a different season. Sweet, earth foods (which should be eaten in late summer) disperse stagnant energy and harmonise the stomach. Bitter foods (which are recommended for summer) tend to affect the heart and small intestine. Sour, wood foods influence the liver and gallbladder (spring); while pungent, metal (for autumn) foods have an affinity for the lungs and large intestine. Salty water foods are associated with the kidneys and bladder (best in winter). According to Daniel Reid, author of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Shambhala Publications, Boston) and an authority on food as medicine, palace kitchens and wealthy households of ancient China, professional herbalists, not cooks, were hired to take charge of the kitchens, supervising the purchase and preparation of all foods. The cooks simply acted as their assistants, cooking foods according to the herbalists' instructions.
Wang Lee Tee Eng, the owner of the Imperial Herbal, always felt that it was very fitting to combine the expertise of a master chef with a respected herbalist. 'When a chef creates a dish, he is mainly interested in flavour, texture, colour,' she said. 'The herbalist understands the effect the herbs will have on the body. A good herbalist will combine food and medicine to achieve the perfect balance.' Wang believes that all food should be prepared with one's health in mind: 'But,' she says, 'what makes a diner decide whether to return to a restaurant or not is whether the food tastes good.' Maybe that is why the Imperial Herbal is full every night.
Nina Simonds is the author of eight books including A Spoonful of Ginger (Absolut Press). Her next book Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats will be published by Harcourt in September.
For the Ever Well Centre telephone 020 7287 1095
Secrets of the Imperial Herbal
Common ailments and the foods used to treat them
Colds
Chinese doctors believe that there are two main types of cold. The 'hot wind' type is accompanied by a fever, chills, a sore throat and a yellowish tongue. Yin foods such as peppermint and chrysanthemum tea, chilled tofu, and Chinese cabbage (napa) are recommended.The 'cold wind' type is accompanied by fever, chills without perspiration, runny nose, and a whitish tongue. Yang foods such as ginger-and-brown-sugar tea (drink hot and then wrap the body in blankets to perspire), and scallion-ginger tea.
Flu
Symptoms include high fever, headache, and congestion of the eyes and throat. Cooked daikon radish with rice congee or porridge; peppermint-licorice root tea; and soy beans cooked with coriander are recommended.
Insomnia
Wild jujube seed porridge; pig's kidney cooked with angelica root and Chinese yam.
Constipation
Honey tea; papaya; bananas with toasted black sesame seeds; Chinese cabbage juice; and rice congee with pine nuts, walnuts, and Chinese almonds. Coronary heart disease
Banana tea with honey; fried, softened kelp with toasted sesame oil, sugar, and salt; hawthorn tea; and tomato soup with prickly ash peel.
Hypertension
Celery juice with Chinese dates; rice congee cooked with chrysanthemum flowers and rock sugar; and ingredients like wood ears, mung beans, fuzzy melon, kelp, and bitter gourd.
Retard ageing
Reishi tea; white fungus soup; and ingredients like American ginseng, pine nuts, Chinese yams, walnuts, and wolfberries.
Cancer and immune system
Foods including garlic, shitake and maitake mushrooms, onions, red dates, white and black fungus, and water caltrops.
Clear-steamed chicken soup with ginger
Clear-steaming, otherwise known as double-boiling, is a simple technique used by Chinese cooks where a food is cooked slowly within a closed container. The result is a very clear, intense broth. This is a basic recipe but you may add dried black mushrooms, or Chinese herbs such as ginseng, red dates, or angelica sinensis also known as dang gui or dong quai in Chinese.
Serves 6-8
1 whole chicken, about 1.8 kg or slightly more, cut into 8 to 10 serving pieces
Soup Broth:
1.4 litres boiling water
400 ml Chinese rice wine or sake
10 whole green onions, ends trimmed and smashed with the flat edge of a knife
10 slices fresh ginger, 2 mm thick, smashed with the flat edge of a knife
1 tsp salt, or to taste
Preheat the oven to 225¡ or gas mark 7. Remove any fat from the chicken pieces. Heat 2 quarts water until boiling in a large pot.
Add the chicken pieces and blanch for 1 minute after the water reaches the boil. Drain the chicken, discarding the water, then rinse in cold water and drain again.
Place the chicken pieces and the soup broth ingredients, except the salt, in a Dutch oven or a casserole. Cover tightly with the lid and place in a large rectangular or square pan. Pour 4cm of boiling water around the casserole, creating a bain marie. Bake for 2 hours, replenishing the boiling water in the pan if necessary.
Skim the top of the soup to remove any fat and impurities and remove the ginger and green onions, and discard. Add the salt and stir. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and serve. To reheat, steam or bake in a closed pot for 10 to 15 minutes.
