Noodles. Fried rice. Manchurian. Chilli. Soups. Ummm. Cantonese. Hummmm. Ummm. Ahh....kung pao. And just when you think that you have exhausted the entire gamut of terms used to describe Chinese food, the real stuff reveals itself. By real, I do mean 'REAL' and not the heavily desi-fied variety that could literally give new meaning to the 'Hindi-Chini bhai bhai' sloganeering. I will leave those to some inspiration-deprived Bollywood bloke and his period drama. For now, I will just revel in the new found joy of discovering real Chinese food.
The Chinese are surely masters in the art of stir-frying. A chosen few ingredients, a large cooking surface that allows individual components to actually get fried instead of being steamed and the hottest flame that you can muster up in order to retain the crispness of the veggies are the key components that go into the making of this culinary dream. So, even before you attempt to replicate these stir fry recipes at home, make sure you have the right kind of wok and a really big burner. Else no amount of effort is going to give you the desired outcome.
Here is a real simple recipe to start with. I have stir fried Bok choy with some dried shrimp (as I was out of the fresh ones), lot of garlic and a dash of light soy sauce. Read on for the details -
Preparation time - 10 mins
Ingredients -
Preparation - If using dried shrimps, soak them in hot water for about 20 mins. Drain water, wash again with fresh water and squeeze dry.
Wash the bok-choy and chop it into medium sized bits.
Cooking - Take a wide wok. Add the oil and heat it to a high.
Add the minced garlic, red chili and shrimp. Stir fry at a high heat till the shrimp turns crisp. Takes about 3 mins.
Add the bok-choy and stir quickly to let off the steam without making it soggy.
Finally add soy sauce and very little salt . Give a quick stir and remove from the wok.
Serve hot.
Note - I personally like to have this stir fry with some steamed white/brown rice and a light dal/rasam.
The Chinese are surely masters in the art of stir-frying. A chosen few ingredients, a large cooking surface that allows individual components to actually get fried instead of being steamed and the hottest flame that you can muster up in order to retain the crispness of the veggies are the key components that go into the making of this culinary dream. So, even before you attempt to replicate these stir fry recipes at home, make sure you have the right kind of wok and a really big burner. Else no amount of effort is going to give you the desired outcome.
Here is a real simple recipe to start with. I have stir fried Bok choy with some dried shrimp (as I was out of the fresh ones), lot of garlic and a dash of light soy sauce. Read on for the details -
Preparation time - 10 mins
Ingredients -
- 100 gm Bok-choy
- 1/4 cup dried/fresh shrimp
- 4-5 garlic cloves (finely minced)
- 1 tsp light soy sauce
- red chili (finely chopped)
- 1 tsp canola oil
- salt to taste
Preparation - If using dried shrimps, soak them in hot water for about 20 mins. Drain water, wash again with fresh water and squeeze dry.
Wash the bok-choy and chop it into medium sized bits.
Cooking - Take a wide wok. Add the oil and heat it to a high.
Add the minced garlic, red chili and shrimp. Stir fry at a high heat till the shrimp turns crisp. Takes about 3 mins.
Add the bok-choy and stir quickly to let off the steam without making it soggy.
Finally add soy sauce and very little salt . Give a quick stir and remove from the wok.
Serve hot.
Note - I personally like to have this stir fry with some steamed white/brown rice and a light dal/rasam.
