Cooking Vegetables

8/1/21 Inspired by the Olympics, I had so much fun doing extreme boot camp, Frisbee and other sorts of sports at 95F. Sweating feels good. I go around to tell people “hey, you know, I gain some weight, and it must be the muscles” but nobody believes me :/ ;/ Probably because they all know I eat too much:D

The first time I realized vegetables can be made tasty is at this restaurant called Natural Oasis. Vegetables are difficult to cook. To motivate my son to eat vegetables, I did try to improve my skills. IMHO, Chinese cuisine does not have an amazing way to cook vegetables. So if the bellowing pictures are not super satisfying, please refer to this link for more options: https://cooking.nytimes.com/68861692/2274598-easy-30-minute-vegetarian-recipes

What are some of the tricks I found useful when cooking vegetables?

Looking for good combinations: Some vegetables naturally go together very well, e.g., asparagus and mushroom, tomato and egg, egg and Chinese leek, and okra and egg. I also like to mix beancurd with (Chinese) celery.

Stir-fry tricks: Chinese cuisine do a lot of stir-fry. I like to stir-fry different types of leafs, like bok choy, potato leafs, kales, spinach … and of course, broccoli and cauliflower. Cooking in a deep, big wok feels authentic asian 🙂 When you put it on the gas stove, the wok can raise to a very high temperature. The water in the leafs then evaporates very fast. So you actually cook the food with the steams evaporated!

When cooking leafs, I will first put down garlic with oil, sometimes also with a “Chinese thousand year old egg :)” (皮蛋). When the oil is ready, I then dump the leafs. The most important trick is that after some stir, you will need to put some broth. In the supermarket, you can buy this cubic concentration of veggie or chicken broth. You can quickly mix it with water to get the broth (small amount). Compared to add water and salt, boiling the veggies in the broth is the key to make the dish tasty.

Diversify cooking styles and food types: in addition to stir fry, I try to diversify styles: miso, tempura, bibimbap, kimchi, dry pot, soup, broil and then mix with sauces (凉拌), mixed with starches like noodles and rice, rice cakes, hot and sour, brown/soy-sauces …