This is a recipes on how to cook stir fry potato. Stir fry potato is classic chinese side dish found in China. It is not so much known the West. I have fascinating to want to make and try out this dish after being at a authentic chinese restaurant near where I like called Little … Read more
It’s now the season for kale harvest. And it’s also a harvest time for kale. For this recipe I use cavalo nero stir fry (in translation it simply means black kale). I am using it in a stir fry as it’s quick and easy to cook.
Ingredients (makes about 2-3 portions)
200 grms cavalo nero (black kale)
1 medium size carrot
2-3 slices of smoked/ unsmoke bacon (fat trim away)
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp of cooking oil
some black pepper for seasoning
Preparation
Like most stir fry preparation is the most important as the cooking time is not long.
Slice the cavalo nero into thin slices (about 0.5cm thickness). do the same for the carrots and bacon. Then peel and chop the garlic into small pieces.
Cooking
Heat the cooking oil in a fry pan or pot on a high heat till it’s hot. Add the garlic saute it till it’s fragrant and not burn. add the bacon fry it for a 1-2 minutes till the meat starts to cook.
Then add the carrots stir fry for few minutes and then add the kale. Stir fry for another 1-2 minutes. Then it’s done. Enjoy!!
Here is a recipe on amaranth after harvesting amaranth in the garden recently Growing and harvesting amaranth. Amaranth has a place in my heart as it brings back of childhood memories in Malaysia. In Malay it is called bayam. My mum use to stir fry them lots when I was young and I use to hate them … Read more
This is a recipe for cooking with water bamboo stir fry. Water bamboo is a fresh shoot available to buy from Chinese grocers. It is a new vegetable for me I found out about water bamboo on social media and was curious to try it out. As a result, I like cooking with water bamboo as it has got a lovely crunchy taste on it. A bit different from canned bamboo shoots which are preserved in brine. It is great to use on stir-fries as it’s quick to cook and it preserves its crunchiness.
This recipe is a recipe I made myself. It is not related to any regions in China as some recipes are. Although in my journey I found some regional recipes that use these water bamboo shoots. On its own it hasn’t got any flavour, therefore, it will need some flavouring from ginger, soy sauce or shitake mushroom.
To cook the water bamboo shoot one will need to prepare the shoot by cutting and peeling away the green leaf layer off. It will reveal some nice white tender shoots. Cut it or slice it to bite-size. I use an Aberdeen Angus rump beef steak which I got from Waitrose. In which I slice into thin slices. The steak and oyster sauce gives some flavor to the shoots.
After writing this recipe I wrote another recipe using water bamboo shoot this time it is cooking with Pak Choi and shitake mushrooms. Here is the link to it. That recipe is a vegan recipe as it doesn’t contain any meat.
Water bamboo shoot
Water bamboo Stir fry
3 Water bamboo (available from Asian grocers) if not can substitute with canned bamboo shoots but with a bit less crunch and fresh taste
A handful of mangetout (about 150 grms) 1 large carrot 200 grms of beef rump steak (if beef not ok chicken meat will do as well, chicken breast or thigh)
4 teaspoonful of cornstarch 1 teaspoonful of shao xing wine ( white sherry wine), optional. 3 cloves of garlic Three stalks of spring onion 3 slices (about 2-3mm) thick of ginger 2 teaspoonful of oyster sauce 1 teaspoonful of soy sauce black pepper to taste 2-3 tablespoon of cooking oil
Cooking
Prepare the Vegetables for stir fry Chop the garlic, slice the ginger finely and cut the spring onions into thin circles. Then slice the carrots and slice the mangetout. Prepare the water bamboo remove the outer green layer as it’s tough to chew till you get the white core of the bamboo. Cut them onto strips about 1 cm.
Prepare the Beef Cut away any tough tendon that is on rump steak then sliced thinly the beef. Marinate with some cornflour. If you like at this point you can add a bit of soy sauce and some shao xing wine to marinate.
Prepare the sauce. In small a bowl put about 2 teaspoonful of cornstarch, 2 teaspoonful of oyster sauce, one teaspoonful of soy sauce and some black pepper. Then add about 250mls of water slowly mix till it’s well mix.
Stir Fry/ Cooking time Heat about 2 tablespoon of oil on medium to high heat in a wok or frying pan. Once it’s heated up add the marinated beef. Stir fry it about 2-3 minutes till it’s partial cook. Till there is no more redness from the meat and it’s starting to turn brown. Take it out of the wok. With the remaining oil and a bit more oil then fry the garlic, ginger and white part of spring onion till it releases the fragrant. Keep an eye and not let it burn. then add the carrots, mangetout and the water bamboo. Give it a good stir about 2 minutes. Add the cornstarch sauce then once it’s beginning to thicken up add the beef. Coat the beef with sauce and vegetables. Then it’s done enjoy!!
I have done a video on it but wordpress.com wouldn’t allow me to post any videos on my current tariff. Here is the link https://youtu.be/qlY0Z7hSbnc
I have found a way to finish eating my baby courgettes quickly. There is only got two courgette plants but at the moment they are fruiting like crazy. Growing Courgette I have decided to harvest them much earlier the shops call them baby courgettes. They taste divine much more taste the big ripen ones. This is … Read more