The Green, Green Vege of Home

Yes, we are still on the green theme today. More rabbit food, I’m afraid. But hey, I love vegetables, I really do. And sometimes it fascinates me how some people can eat nothing but meat every day, day in, day out, throughout the year. I have a few cousins and some friends who refuse to imbibe even a single stalk of vegetable. I’m pretty much the reverse. A meal just doesn’t seem quite complete to me without some bright-colored plant material

And guess what? Today’s “show and tell” day. (Ha ha! I almost feel like I’m back in grade school.) And of course, the theme of the day is: the different ways vegetables can be stir-fried…

I think the Chinese pretty much stir-fry every type of vegetable that gets served at their table. The most basic would be vegetables stir-fried with minced garlic, and seasoned simply with light soy sauce or oyster sauce and sometimes a little rich flavorful stock. This method works for just about every type of vegetable…

From spinach…

To cai xin (a green leafy vege with small yellow flowers)…

And any other green vegetable one can think of: broccoli, xiao bai cai (baby pak-choy), long beans, French beans, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage (bok-choy) (okay, okay, the last two are not green, but still vegetables)

The only variants would be the length of time the vegetables are sautéed for, depending on their hardness, and also the aromatics and flavorings used in the sauté.

Kailan (Chinese broccoli) usually requires ginger slices or strips to be added as well, to remove the “grassy” taste. And a dash of Chinese rice wine, Japanese mirin (rice) wine or even a fairly dry white wine works wonders with this vegetable. I would add the ginger with the garlic to the hot oil for a quick sauté, before adding the kai lan. And just before it is plated, after all the seasonings have been added, add a dash of the wine. The best would be to flambé the vegetable, but unfortunately, the home gas stove just doesn’t have a large enough flame for this. So, I normally just give a quick sauté to allow some of the alcohol to evaporate, leaving just the taste of the wine on the vegetable.

I love kai lan stems – a seasonal vegetable – cooked in this way. Compared to the regular leafy kai lan, these stems are easily 5-8 times thicker, and are usually sold without the leafy part of the vegetable. These are very crunchy and sweet!

I really like fresh shitake mushrooms cooked in this way too…

The tiny juliennes of ginger and the wine really lift the taste of these very aromatic and flavorful mushrooms. Just be sure not to overcook the mushrooms. It takes just 2-3 minutes in the wok, and it’s good to go.

And when we get tired of all that green stuff, we add a dash of red to the stir-fry… Carrots immediately brighten up any vegetable dish, be it cabbage (winter-time cabbages from China are especially sweet and crunchy)…

Or snow peas…

And… the mix and match game continues… on top of the carrots, throw in some fresh shitakes, and hey presto! brand new vegetable dishes…

Asparagus with carrots and shitakes…

Bean sprouts with julienne of ginger, carrots and Chinese dried mushrooms, and some scallions for a touch of green…

Lettuce with carrots and shitakes…

Then, we start adding different sauces to the same vegetables. Instead of stir frying the lettuce, sometimes I like to quickly blanch them in boiling water (seasoned with a touch of cooking oil, pinch of salt). And top it with various “sauces”.

This one here has three types of fresh mushrooms, carrots, onions and diced chicken. Other “toppings” I regularly use are shallots with oyster sauce; diced chicken with teriyaki or dark soy sauce; shitake mushrooms with ginger and rice wine… I guess the combinations are pretty endless – whatever you fancy, and whatever is in the fridge.

I do baby kai lan (the ones with the rounded ends), kai lan, cai xin, broccoli in these ways too.

Hey, this “match the vegetable to the ingredients” game isn’t so bad now is it? But after all that mixing and matching, it is time to spice things up! It starts getting hot, hot, hot…

Another perennial favorite way to stir fry vegetables is to use sambal belachan or just simple chilli sambal. (This is a very South East Asian way of cooking, although in Sichuan, China incredibly spicy peppercorns are also used in their cooking).

A lot of vegetables can be fried with chilli, from okra or lady fingers and long beans to kang kong or tong xin cai (translated as “hollowed stem vegetable” – very aptly named, as it is the only type of vegetable with a hollow stem!)

Sambal Chilli Okra

At home, we usually do not use sambal belachan (fermented dried shrimp paste with chilli) although it is a must in a large majority of households. We usually make our own chilli paste (grind fresh red chillis and sauté in oil until fragrant), which is more acceptable and palatable than belachan for young and old alike. This chilli paste will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and can be easily added to any type of dish. There is then also the flexibility to add dried shrimps or other ingredients to the vegetable when sautéing it with the chilli paste.

There are many, many more ways to cook vegetables… and you thought vegetables were boring? But I think that’s enough rabbit food for one night The rest will have to wait for another time…

Happy vegetable stir-frying!

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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