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Margaret Xu, head chef of Yin Yang restaurant in Wan Chai, believes in a from-farm-to-table philosophy and modernising old dishes such as her yellow earth chicken. Photos: May Tse, Margaret Xu

Healthy Gourmet: Straight from the earth

More than a decade ago, when organic farming was given little attention in Hong Kong, chef Margaret Xu started championing the from-farm-to-table process at her vegetable garden and secluded kitchen in Yuen Long.

"Organic is not a business opportunity, it is a life choice," says Xu. "Organic farms take longer to grow crops, they require more labour, and their output is not reliable. [But it] improves the environment, gives us healthier food and, possibly because of the higher cost, helps us to eat less."

When it comes to eating locally grown food, I have reservations. Xu says eating locally is a lifestyle choice, not a gourmet choice. Locally grown foods are not necessarily the best, although they have a better carbon footprint.

Eating locally starts by cooking or ordering local traditional dishes that require local ingredients: for example, eat steamed chicken with dried lily flower with black fungus and not a caprese salad.

The famous is not simply Italian; it is the local product of a few selected municipalities of four regions in central and southern Italy.

The cheese's distinct qualities mainly depend on the local milk, environmental conditions and the traditional working methods of the specific area of production. So authentic mozzarella cannot be sourced locally in Hong Kong. I would not advise to order bak choi in Naples either.

Xu is a gourmand, a great chef and a veteran organic farmer. She has attempted to grow almost everything in her vegetable garden and fruit orchard.

I asked her to help me make the right grocery decisions. For my private kitchen I want to source locally when it makes sense, and keep importing the ingredients from Italy that don't grow well here.

"Many vegetables and fruits can grow in Hong Kong's subtropical climate," says Xu, "In winter we can grow Western-style vegetables and, in summer, Asian ones."

Unfortunately, my favourite tomatoes don't do well in Hong Kong. Xu says: "You need a lot of sun and dry weather, Hong Kong is too humid for good tomatoes."

She lists figs, lemons, beetroot, cucumbers, sweetcorn, fennel and carrots as good home-grown choices. But eggplants, pumpkins, zucchini, basil and most fresh herbs, melon, peach, orange, and apple will not impress a gourmand.

It is helpful to discriminate when choosing fish and meat. I think fish from the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean will never be as succulent as that from the Mediterranean and, personally, I am sceptical about the water quality of the local catches.

I am a lover of organic food. This is how my grandmother and everyone of her generation and before her used to eat. But I have come to realise that "organic" matters more for some products than others, particularly if the choice is between eating them non-organic and not eating them at all.

The US-based Environmental Working Group has identified which fruits and vegetables have the most pesticide residues and are the most important to buy organic. These include: apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, nectarines, grapes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries and potatoes. Conventionally grown products that are "cleaner" are onions, sweetcorn, pineapples, avocados, cabbage, sweet peas, asparagus, mangoes, eggplants, kiwi, cantaloupes, sweet potatoes, grapefruit, watermelons and mushrooms. Given the high prices and limited availability of organic produce, this list helps me make my grocery decisions.

Xu continues to champion the farm-to-table approach at a small restaurant, Yin Yang, in a historical three-storey building on Ship Street, Wan Chai. She employs traditional Chinese cooking techniques, such as stone-grinding grains and wood-fired roasting in terracotta oven pots, because she is a firm believer that old, slow-cooking methods are the best way to preserve taste.

But she also has a contemporary attitude. "My mission is to rediscover and reinvent traditional dishes which are now outdated - to make them fresher, healthier and suit our modern living style."

One of her signature dishes is the yellow earth chicken, named after the yellow terracotta urn in her kitchen, in which it cooks.

"They used to hang chicken to roast, like we see for Peking duck, which helps the fat drip off," Xu says. "In the old days it was made with spices that would overpower the modern palate. I have developed a version of this traditional dish that tastes more elegant."

You can also make the dish at home with the recipe below.

For the next month, this column will focus on people in Hong Kong like Xu who make our city vibrant through creativity, gourmet food and a health-conscious mindset.

Serves 4

  • Prepare the marinade by mixing the olive oil, ginger, curry leaves and sea salt. Let the flavours mingle overnight.
  • The next day, season the inside of the chicken with the marinade and the mandarin wine. Season the outside with the rock salt.
  • Roast in a preheated oven at 225 degrees Celsius for 45 minutes.
Healthy Gourmet is a weekly column by private chef Andrea Oschetti. [email protected]
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Straight from the earth
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