From Quick
Vegetarian Dishes, Kurma Dasa, Chakra Press, 2000.
I felt that I needed a change from what I had
recently been cooking and wanted something that was heavy on greens so changed
to Asian with this simple dish.
To begin I put on a large pot of salted water
and brought it to the boil. I cut a bunch of gai lan (Chinese broccoli) in half and placed it in
the boiling water, the thick stems first and then the leaves to follow and left
them for a couple of minutes to blanch. It all then went in a colander and cold
water was poured over until the heat had left the vegetable.
The sauce was now made. A tablespoon each of
vegetarian oyster sauce and soy sauce were mixed in a bowl with a good shake of
ground white pepper, 2 teaspoons of sugar and ½ cup water with ½ stock cube.
This mixture was left until required later.
The remaining vegetables were prepared. About
2cm fresh ginger was peeled and sliced very thinly. Half a cup of water
chestnuts were also sliced. About 100g oyster mushrooms were torn carefully
into slices where they were too large. Puffed bean curd blocks were cut into
halves. I measured out ½ teaspoon asafoetida. Now the cooking could begin.
A little olive oil was heated in a wok and
the ginger added for a few seconds. The water chestnuts now went in with the
asafoetida and the mushrooms. They were given a couple of minutes before the
sauce was added. This was given a few minutes before the bean curd and
the gai lan went in. They were stirred to mix the ingredients before a lid was
added for about 2 minutes more.
I should have given the gai lan a little bit
longer, I think, or sliced the stems into halves as the stems were still a little
tough—a pity as these can be the best part. Nevertheless I did enjoy this and
should try it again and I might be more successful. I do like gai lan and
generally have it when we go to the Green Gourmet. The mushrooms were not in the recipe but I
had some so added them and they worked very well in it.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of
cooking:
✔✔✔✔
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