skud

Mirrored from The OEconomist. You can comment there or here.

This was a bit of an experiment, but I think it worked out pretty well. In winter I really enjoy baking things in the oven, so I decided to do that with these vegies instead of the more obvious stir-frying option.

All quantities are wildly approximate, and are what I used to make three parcels. Adjust as you see fit!

• 18 small brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
• small packet of fried tofu, sliced
• 6 shiitake mushrooms, sliced (I used dry ones that I’d soaked beforehand)
• 1″ piece of ginger, cut into thin slices or matchsticks
• 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

If you’re soaking your mushrooms like I did, make sure you give them long enough, and there’s no need to squeeze them too hard to get the excess juice out; a bit of liquid won’t hurt at all and might help. (My version was a bit too dry from getting this wrong.)

I divided the ingredients into three little parchment-paper parcels. Then to each one I added a slosh each of:

• oyster sauce
• light soy sauce
• sesame oil

I folded the parchment parcels closed and bunged them in the oven at about 200C for half an hour.

Parcels, folded and ready to bake. Crimp lengthwise, then fold in the ends.

They’re done when you can stick a fork in the brussels sprouts. To serve, just up-end the parcel over some rice — we used black (“forbidden”) rice because we’re really into that lately.

Served over black rice.

It was great to have almost no cleanup (except the rice cooker, which isn’t as non-stick as it used to be and needed a good soak). I’ll definitely be doing this again, if I can think of other good combinations to go in the parcels.

Mirrored from The OEconomist. You can comment there or here.

This whole thing came about because I wanted to try out Chinese black rice, aka “forbidden” rice. I’ve got a recipe for a Thai chicken soup that has black rice added before serving, which I’ll be cooking next week, but first off I just wanted to make a big batch of the stuff and serve some kind of stir-fry over the top. The leftovers can be used for the soup in a couple of days.

“Forbidden” rice is a whole grain rice that’s dark purple in colour, which means it’s full of vitamins and anti-oxidants and stuff. Whatever. I just love whole grains, and this is a good addition to my usual roster. I let it soak in cold water for about half an hour, rinsed it off (the water ran deep purple), then cooked it in the rice cooker. It needs a ratio of about 2:1 when it comes to water.

So, what to serve over it? I decided I wanted something wintery, so I settled on sweet potatoes, whose sweet nutty flavour should work well over this rice, along with some tofu and greens.

I recently learned Mark Bittman’s “braise and glaze” method, and I’ve been using it for a variety of root vegetables, so I decided to do an Asian-inspired take on it for my sweet potatoes. It went a little like this:

• 1 large sweet potato, cut into chunks
• garlic and ginger, minced
• oil
• water
• soy sauce

Throw the oil in the wok and add the garlic and ginger, stirring them briefly, then add the sweet potatoes and about half a cup of water with a good dash of soy sauce in it. Put a lid on the wok and simmer on low, turning the sweet potatoes occasionally, until they’re soft enough to stick a fork in. You might need to add a little more water/soy mix if the pan dries out before they’re done. When they’re soft enough, take the lid off and boil off the liquid, stirring the sweet potatoes through the thickening sauce. Set aside.

Once the sweet potatoes were pre-cooked, I set about making the actual stir-fry.

• oil
• ginger and garlic, minced (to taste; I used about 1 tblsp of each)
• 3 spring onions, chopped (white and green sections)
• sweet potato, pre-cooked (as above)
• firm fried tofu, cut into chunks
• asian greens, roughly chopped and rinsed (I used 4 heads of pak choy, almost a whole colander-full)
• soy sauce
• oyster sauce (vegetarian OK)
• Chinese cooking wine
• toasted sesame oil
• toasted sesame seeds

Pre-mix some sauce using 1 part soy sauce, 1 part oyster sauce, and 2 parts Chinese cooking wine. You want a total amount of, oh, maybe 1/3 cup. I use this as a base for a lot of my stir-fries and it’s pretty flexible; just stick your finger in and have a taste and you’ll figure out how you like it. Since this is a sesame-oriented stir-fry, you can also add a little sesame oil and give it a quick whisk.

Put the wok over a hot flame and get some cooking oil hot. Toss in the ginger, garlic and spring onions. Give them a quick stir then throw in the tofu and half of the sauce. Stir-fry quickly, heating the tofu through and covering it in sauce.

Add the pre-cooked sweet potatoes, and stir-fry until they’re warm through (if you only just cooked them, you need only spend a moment on this). Then toss in all the greens along with the rest of the sauce, stir them through so they’re mingled with the rest, and put the lid on the wok for about half a minute. This will steam/wilt the greens a little, making them easier to stir. Give them another toss until they’re as done as you like. Sprinkle sesame seeds and a little more sesame oil and serve over rice.