Allow me to introduce this dish in English. I thought it would be wonderful for those who cannot read Chinese/local expats to try this recipe at home. My grandmother and mother will always be the best cooks in my life. (It is grammatically wrong because there can only be one "best" but I have to say both of them are.) My mother cooks Western dish as well while my grandmother mastered traditional
Hakka cuisine, grandma's Turnip Cake was one of the reasons I look forward to Chinese New Year besides getting Red Pockets from relatives.
My friends and I often discuss dishes our moms/helpers cook at home, I found out the variation is HUGE! I can hardly find friends that does "Western-weekends" like my family does. Western-weekends meaning usually on Sunday/Saturday night, my mom will prepare a more Western meal, for instance we will have corn, smoked salmon, tomatoes, salad, meat platter/cheese platter, cream soup, etc., and together with baguette/pita bread/pasta. Sometimes I will stay at my friends' place for dinner, somehow I still find my favourite dining place is my home.
I tried to sum up the characteristics of mom's style of cooking:
-Unintentionally low fat/low salt/low sugar
-75% vegetables
-Simple
Mom's dishes are local but I cannot say it is 100% Chinese. I guess it is because we grew up in a once-colonial city like Hong Kong, the style of cooking evolved in the past 100 years. We have loads of imported goods from around the world which increases the accessibility of ingredients. For locals, eating out is very common. Cooking at home might be more expensive especially for those who is living alone...but I still prefer cooking simply because it calms me.
I have always wanted to make a recipe book for my mother and I am going to make it happen. It is more challenging than I thought especially whenever I ask my mom: Can you tell me how much ______ you used in this dish? and the answer is always a pinch/a bit/just a little! I'd say that is the art of abstract by Mrs. Lee. I guess for those who cooks everyday/mastered the art of cooking unintentionally are very unaware of the amount of ingredients they use. They do it according to what they FEEL about it and they can sense it. It would be interesting to write a COLLECTION of RECIPES from my friend's mothers as well! I am getting greedy again..
I am going to share the recipe tomorrow, stay tuned!
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp of oil
- 3-4 Cloves of garlic and/or shallot; finely chopped/sliced (Add more if you prefer stronger taste)
- Chili, chopped (Optional, for spice lovers!)
- Mixed Vegetables (Total around 800g; 4 servings)
- Lotus root; cubed
- Chinese green beans and red beans; chopped, around an inch
- Black fungi; soaked and cut into pieces of bite size
**Tips from Stella (my mom): It can be any kind of veggies that you like, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, fungi; nuts such as pine nuts, cashew nuts and walnuts, or tofu cubes or slices. There are different types of Tofu, categorized according to their texture, i.e. how soft/hard they are. For stir frying the harder one is better because it would not be torn into pieces.
- Oyster sauce, depending on the amount of vegetables you use, for example 2 tablespoons for around 800g of vegetables, add a little more to adjust according to your preference. This is the moment I learnt my mother's "it just feels right" skill in estimating the amount of seasonings.
How to cook
1. Boil the fungi and beans for a few minutes before stir frying in order to soften it.
2. Place a pan over medium heat, pour oil; when oil is heated put in garlic and shallot.
3. When the ingredients start giving off extremely pleasant smell, add lotus roots and black fungi, stir fry for 5 minutes, add oyster sauce and stir fry for another 5 minutes to let them absorb the taste.
4. Add green beans and red beans, stir fry for another 10 minutes. Voila!
