Cooking, to me, is all about balance. I find it intriguing and exciting when a dish has just the right combination of sweet and sour flavors, soft and crunchy textures, and hot and cold temperatures. Such recipes are more interesting to eat, rewarding every bite with something delightful. It's a principal of dynamic interplay that the Chinese sum up with the terms yin and yang.

So it's appropriate that the recipe I'm sharing with you this week -- which combines all three of those kinds of contrasts in flavor, texture and temperature -- is an Asian-inspired recipe, the sort I like to serve at my Chinois restaurants in Santa Monica and Las Vegas.

The most dramatic of its contrasts is a combination of hot and cold temperatures. The recipe starts with a rapid stir-fry of plump, fresh shrimp, but you could also make it with scallops, chunks of chicken breast or sliced steak, all of which would cook just as quickly and taste equally delicious. Right out of the wok or skillet, the hot stir-fry is tossed with fresh, cold salad greens, an ideal refreshing complement during the warmer months.

The stir-fry seasonings provide the next set of contrasts. I cook the shrimp in rich peanut oil, with fragrant, pungent garlic. Then, once the shrimp are done, I deglaze the pan with ponzu sauce, a traditional Japanese mixture of salty soy sauce, tangy lemon juice or rice vinegar, sweet mirin (rice wine), dried seaweed and dried bonito flakes. (Look for good-quality bottled ponzu in ethnic markets or well-stocked supermarkets.) The result is a complex, well-balanced sauce that becomes the dressing for the salad.

Then, there's the yin and yang of textures. The quickly cooked fresh shrimp are plump, juicy and tender, with a pleasing snap to each bite. The salad greens and other vegetables deliver the crispness of good, fresh vegetables. (And they'll be all the more flavorful and good for you if you seek out fine organic produce.) Yet they also wilt slightly on contact with the hot dressing from the wok, adding further intrigue to each bite. Of course, I just have to add another element of texture with the crunchy roasted cashew nuts I like to scatter over each portion just before serving.

And there's yet one more delightful set of contrasts to be found in this dish: color. Both light and dark greens form the base for the salad. They're topped with the white-and-pink shrimp, the dark-colored sauce, the orange and green colors of the stir-fried vegetables, and the brown of the nuts. It's beautiful and all the more wonderful because we always eat with our eyes before the food ever reaches our mouths.

CHINOIS GARLIC-PONZU SHRIMP SALAD

Serves 4

1/2 pound baby butter lettuce leaves

1/2 pound baby spinach leaves

1 pound medium shrimp

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons peanut oil

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, plus extra for garnish

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery

1 cup bottled ponzu sauce

1/2 cup roasted cashews

Rinse the butter lettuce and spinach leaves thoroughly under cold running water. Pat them thoroughly dry with paper towels. Loosely roll up the leaves in paper towels and leave them to chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Transfer them to a large salad bowl or mixing bowl, tearing any larger leaves into bite-sized pieces.

Peel the shrimp by separating their shells between the rows of legs; pull off and discard the tail fins, too. Devein the shrimp, making tiny slits along their convex sides and pulling out the dark-gray or black intestinal tract, or "vein," just underneath the surface. Season the shrimp lightly all over with salt and pepper.

In a large nonstick wok or heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until it flows freely and starts to give off a rich aroma. Add the shrimp and the garlic and stir-fry, stirring continuously and briskly, just until the shrimp turn uniformly opaque and pink and are barely cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrot, scallions and celery, and stir-fry briskly for about 1 minute more, tossing all the ingredients together, until the colors of the vegetables turn bright. Add the ponzu sauce and stir just until it is heated through and coats all the ingredients, about 30 seconds more.

Pour the stir-fry over the lettuce and spinach leaves in the salad bowl. Toss quickly but thoroughly to combine the ingredients and coat the leaves with the sauce. Transfer the salad to individual serving plates and arrange the shrimp attractively on top. Garnish with scallions and cashew nuts and serve immediately.