Our family loves Chinese food. We've been truly blessed to savor the real deal in China and it was incredible. A particularly memorable meal for me involved vegetable fried rice with chunks of grilled pineapple. If you know my husband, ask him about his most memorable meal. I guarantee you it did not involve pineapple. :) And, a travel tip, let servers know you are a vegetarian and they will bring you LOTS of amazing food! Despite my attempts to convince otherwise, there was a pervasive concern at the restaurants we visited that I was not getting enough to eat. Bonus for me!
But since we don't plan on being back in China for a few years, the Bo Ling's close by keeps us happily satisfied. When we go, I always look longingly into the kitchen, wishing I could spend some time back there observing and picking up secrets. Maybe even some ancient Chinese secrets if I was lucky. Man, that kitchen is humming. Clanging, sizzling, frying, steaming all coming from giant flaming woks!
I put my very nice but non-flaming wok to use yesterday with yet another attempt at a home-cooked Chinese feast. While it wasn't a prize winner, it really was tasty, healthy, and pretty simple, too. The main lesson I have learned from more botched attempts than I would like to mention is that when you are cooking Chinese, get everything ready and at hand. Everything! The cooking time goes really quick, so its essential to do your work ahead of time.
For our humble family feast, I plan ahead by firing up the rice cooker with brown jasmine or basmati rice. If you don't have a rice cooker, that's okay, too. Just plan to have the rice steaming warm when you are ready to sit down to eat.
About 30 minutes before dinner is to be served, you will find me pulling all the ingredients together on my kitchen counter and thanking my lucky stars for this fabulous stuff:
Just in case you can't read the label, this is lemon ginger soy sauce that I found (with help, thank you again Si-fou!) at our local Asian market. It has a beautiful taste and scent and is not full of MSG or other mystery ingredients. It was just one of a multitude of options -- I invite you to go explore and find some seasoning / sauce that speaks to your taste buds, too.
You an use any combination of fresh vegetables that you enjoy for your own Chinese creation. Here's what I had on hand and tossed into the wok this week:
Humble Chinese Veggie Stir-Fry
1 block of semi-soft tofu, cubed
3 carrots, thinly chopped
1 large can sliced water chestnuts
1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
3 bunches bok choy, tops removed and chopped
2 green onions, tops removed and chopped
1/3 C lemon ginger soy sauce
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of sesame oil
While you are getting all the veggies chopped and ready, marinate the cubed tofu in a small bowl by drizzing on your sauce of choice. Set aside. Know in your heart that tofu will assume the flavor of whatever you add to it, so don't be afraid of the rubbery white cubes. Believe.
Heat up your wok (or large frying pan) to medium high heat and drizzle with a tiny amount of olive oil to prevent sticking. When hot, toss in your thickest veggies first (carrots, water chestnuts) and stir-fry for about 1 minute until just beginning to cook. Then, add in the tofu and nuts and cook about 1 minute more. Finally, add in the greens, drizzle with the remaining sauce and cook just about 1 minute more. Add the drizzle of sesame oil at the last moment.
Go fast, stir well while everything is sizzling together, and finish while the veggies are crisp-tender. Whew! It's quick work, definitely has taken practice for me, but oh so scent-a-riffic and fun to do!
Along with the brown rice, I served this steaming hot with pan-fried vegetarian dumplings (found in the frozen food at the Asian market - yum! I simply cook up on a skillet coated with olive oil spray) and a giant bowl of steamed edamame.
慢 慢 吃!
Mànmàn chī! Enjoy your meal!
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