Each time I go on vacation, the first thing I start to miss is stir-fried vegetables, Chinese style. While I am ok with salads, I tend to get sick of it after eating for 3 days in a row. No matter how many types of different salad dressings we can possibly find, the baseline is that it still tastes raw. My Asian palate is too used to the garlicky green leafy vegetables. When I got back from the recent vacation in Japan, the first thing I did the next day was head down to the supermarket for a big bunch of bak choy and stir-fried it with garlic for dinner, just to satisfy my craving that had been suppressed for days.
As far back as I can remember, the usual stir-fried vegetables that my mum will serve (and same goes for my mum-in-law) are either bak choy, spinach or choy sum and they are all done the same way – garlic with light soy sauce. I tried to come up with a slightly different sauce the other day for my stir-fry and I quite like how it turned out. It reminded me of the spinach with abalone mushrooms we normally get at a Chinese wedding dinner.
Ingredients:
- 500 gm spinach (cut into 3-inch length)
- 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
- 10 shitake mushroom (sliced thickly about 1-cm wide) *Fresh or dried can be used. For dried shitake, soak overnight before use
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon light soya sauce
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 level tablespoon corn flour (or chestnut flour)
Preparation:
- Mix oyster sauce, light soy sauce and sesame oil with 150 ml of water. Stir to combine.
- Mix corn flour with 100 ml of water.
- Heat oil in wok. Add in half of the minced garlic and stir-fry until fragrant.
- Throw in mushrooms and stir occasionally.
- When the mushrooms are almost done and juices start to run, add in sauce mixture and let it simmer for 4 to 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken slightly.
- Remove mushrooms and sauce.
- Using the same wok, heat another tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the balance minced garlic until fragrant.
- Add in spinach and stir-fry continuously.
- Return the mushroom and sauce to wok when the vegetables are just about to be cooked.
- Lower heat and add in cornstarch.
- Remove from heat when the sauce turns clear and thickens.
Post a Comment