Instructions: Mix the dressing ingredients together in a jar and shake well.

Place the scallops on a plate suitable for steaming. Sprinkle the scallops with a little of the dressing and steam gently over boiling water for 6 minutes.

Wash and dry the watercress, and snap into 5-inch sections. In a serving bowl, combine the watercress, water chestnuts, cherry tomatoes, walnuts and bean sprouts. Pour on the dressing and toss with the vegetables and nuts. Gently mix in the scallops. Garnish with 1 or 2 nasturtium flowers and leaves.

This recipe yields 4 to 6 servings.

Comments: Two much-loved ingredients combine to make this delightful salad. Curiously, however, the Chinese have not totally embraced salads as has the West. This reluctance to accept uncooked foods is rooted in hygiene, as raw food has always been considered unsafe. In todays China, there are still comparatively few salads as we know them abroad, but in Hong Kong, Singapore and wherever else the Chinese have settled, salad dishes of this type find ready acceptance.

Watercress is an important vegetable in Chinese cooking, thought to have found its way to southern China from Persia in the early nineteenth century, when it was cultivated for its health-giving properties. But almost certainly it was growing wild in very wet fields and on the edges of waterways well before that time.

Watercress is a perennial green leafy plant belonging to the mustard family; hence the refreshing, peppery flavor that make it ideal for salads. The southern Chinese enjoy this green vegetable in clear chicken or pork broth.

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