Page 158 - Cook with Ease: Tips and Recipes for Small Families - Serving 1-2

Cooking Term Explanation
Pan-frying The amount of oil used is less than that in deep-frying. Heat
oil in a pan and cook food on one side first. Then turn over
the food to cook the other side.
Double steaming or Place food in a covered ceramic jar filled with water. Then
double boiling** put the jar into a pot of boiling water where the water level
should not be too high (usually half the height of the jar) in
order to avoid overflow of water into the jar. Add water into
the pot when necessary to avoid drying up, but there is no
need to add extra water to the jar. The cooking temperature
and time vary between different types of food.

Braising or stewing Sear or brown food at a high temperature and then cook it in
a covered pot at a lower temperature with water added. This
method is commonly used for food taking longer time to get
softened or flavoured (e.g. shitake mushrooms, lotus roots,
thicker or tougher cuts of meat).
Boiling or simmering** Cook the food in a pot of boiling water.
When cooking vegetables, the water added should be just
enough to cover their surface to reduce the loss of water-
soluble vitamins (e.g. vitamin C).

Deep-frying Submerge and cook food in hot fat/oil at a high temperature.
This is an extremely high-fat cooking method as the food will
absorb a large amount of oil.
The food is usually coated with batter such as beaten eggs,
flour or bread crumbs before deep-frying to give a crispy or
crunchy shell to fried food.
Keep the food dry to avoid oil splashing during deep-frying.
Twice cooking Briefly cook an ingredient and set aside. Then cook the
others and return the briefly cooked ingredient to the pan
where all ingredients are cooked together.
** Low-fat cooking methods
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