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Don’t keep these refreshing dishes filed away until you are making a complete Chinese menu. Turn to them when looking for ideas for warm-weather meals—a selection on a hot summer day makes a fine lunch.

THE CHINESE USE BEAN CURD in all its shapes and forms—silken, soft, firm, and dried—for appetizers, soups, and main courses. This dish, which combines silken bean curd with a crunchy topping of cashews, scallions, and Sichuan preserved vegetable, is actually a traditional breakfast dish that accompanies jook, the rice gruel that many Chinese eat in the morning. It is also a perfect summer lunch dish. Makes 2 to 4 servings

Bean Curd Salad

One 1-pound block soft (silken) bean curd (tofu), drained (see Note, page 212)

Sauce

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon Chinese black or balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry

1 ½ teaspoons hot bean paste

½ teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon minced Sichuan preserved vegetable, rinsed

2 scallions, white and green parts, trimmed and minced

¼ cup roasted salted cashews, lightly crushed into tiny pieces (see Note)

1. Place the bean curd on a serving plate. Cut it in half horizontally. Cut each half into quarters crosswise, then in the other direction into thirds, so you have 12 cubes in each layer, or 24 cubes in all. Pour off any liquid.

2. To make the sauce, mix the sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, rice wine, hot bean paste, and sugar in a small bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Pour the sauce over the bean curd. Sprinkle the preserved vegetable and scallions over the bean curd, and then the cashews. Serve immediately.

Note: To quickly mince cashews, close them in a self-sealing plastic bag and then crush them very finely with an empty wine bottle or a rolling pin. Of course you can use a knife, but this methods contains the nuts and keeps them from jumping all over the chopping board.

SHAOXING IS FAMOUS FOR ITS RICE WINE — and for Drunken Chicken, where juicy poached chicken is soaked in a luscious, if heady, wine sauce. The chicken should marinate at least 8 hours or as long as overnight, but not more because the wine will become bitter. You can add a tablespoon or two more of Shaoxing wine when you serve the chicken, for an added dose of flavor. If you can’t find a whole chicken breast, use two chicken breast halves with skin and bone, and cook them for only 12 minutes. Makes 2 to 4 servings

Drunken Chicken

1 whole chicken breast with skin and bone (about 1 pound)

Sauce

1 scallion, white part only

One 4-inch-long piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 6 pieces

¾ cup Chicken Stock (page 70) or canned chicken broth

¼ cup rice wine or dry sherry

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon sugar

6 cilantro sprigs, for garnish

1. Bring 8 cups of water to a near boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes. Cover the pot, turn off the heat, and poach the chicken until the meat has turned white and is just cooked through, about 10 minutes. If the meat is still pink in the center, return it to the liquid and cook a minute or two longer. Drain the chicken (save the liquid to use as chicken stock, if you wish). Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Cut the breast meat off the bone in two single pieces, and discard the bones. Place the chicken meat in a small plastic storage container.

2. To make the sauce, use the flat side of a cleaver or large knife to lightly smash the scallion and ginger. Combine the scallion, ginger, stock, rice wine, salt, and sugar in a small bowl, and stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

3. Drain the chicken. Using a cleaver, chop the chicken into pieces about 1 ½ inches long and ½ inch wide. Garnish with the cilantro, and serve chilled.

THE SAUCE FOR THIS DISH—thin slices of moist chicken in a sesame sauce served on clear noodles—is identical to the one used for Cold Sesame Noodles. Although you will