5-Minute Stir Fried Vegetables
Hsiao-Ching Chou
This is about a 1/2 pound of Vietnamese spinach before stir frying. mychinesesoulfood.com
Author's Note: For the month of November, I am participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) and pledge to post once a day.
If you're in a vegetable rut, go visit an Asian market. You'll find a new palette of greens to incorporate into your cooking. I shop weekly at an Asian market and I stock up on all sorts of greens so that, at any moment, I can turn out a great stir fry to balance a meal. Keep this basic method for preparing greens in your toolkit and you'll be able improvise on demand.
My husband offered to pick up teriyaki on his way home from work. Sometimes, it's just what's needed at the end of a day. As a convenience, teriyaki is great. As a somewhat balanced meal, it needs some help. I had some Vietnamese spinach, which I coarsely chopped to stir fry with two cloves of smashed garlic and some salt. Done. Easy. It barely took 5 minutes – including rinsing spinach. I also had some baby bok choy that I cooked with crushed garlic and soy sauce. It also took about 5 minutes.
Fresh baby bok choy leaves, separated and ready for a stir fry with minced garlic and soy sauce. mychinesesoulfood.com
Whole baby bok choy leaves stir fried with crushed garlic and soy sauce. mychinesesoulfood.com
Here's the method for my 5-Minute stir fry:
- Wash and trim about 1/2 pound greens
- Cut into bite-size pieces
- Smash or crush 2 medium cloves garlic
- Heat about 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a hot wok
- Add the garlic and stir quickly for about 5 seconds
- Add the greens and stir fry quickly to mix with the garlic (and to prevent garlic from burning)
- Add 1/8 cup water and either 1/2-1 teaspoon salt OR 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- Stir fry for about 30 seconds or slightly longer if the pieces of the vegetable stem still look a little underdone. Turn off the heat and serve.
Optional flavor boosters:
- Add 1 tablespoon of wine or vermouth (whatever you have on hand) with the water; add a pinch of red pepper flakes; finish with a drizzle of sesame oil
- Add a few slices of jalapeno when you add the garlic.
- Add 1 teaspoon chili sauce when you add the water.
After sitr frying the Vietnamese spinach. This version was made with two cloves smashed garlic instead of crushed and salt (not soy sauce). mychinesesoulfood.com