Last week we spent each day visiting Marc's father in the hospital. He had his appendix taken out. He had complications, due to his already poor health. He's 80 and on dialysis for many years. It was very boring sitting in the room for 2 hours each day. We finally got him out.
The hospital is withing walking distance from our home. To get home we passed through Chinatown. We had some nice weather so many folks were out. (It's now cold again).
We could smell the aroma of all the food being cooked in the restaurants. We were really wanting some of it. There was no way we could spend money in a restaurant.
Chinese food used to be a reasonable price. Now if you go to a Chinese restaurant, you have to make sure your bank account is loaded. It isn't worth it for us. Fortunately there are Asian grocery stores there. I have been wanting some Asian greens for a while now. There are some things that I have no idea what they are. I stick with the ones I've had before.
Is this bok choy below? I don't know for sure but it has a similar look to the one that I know to be bok choy. The signs in the Chinese grocer, are not always clear. Sometimes they are only in Chinese, and sometimes they are in French and Chinese, and sometimes they are in English and Chinese. I guess they don't always know the name in English.
I recognize the Chinese broccoli. I just love this vegetable. I wish we could get this in regular stores.
When I went to the store, I was on a main mission to get my all time favourite Asian green, which are mustard greens. Below is what I suspect to be some kind of mustard green. It's not the kind I was searching for but it's all they had. I could be wrong. It was marked Chinese broccoli, but it's clearly not the same. It tasted like mustard greens.
I was also wanting some cabbage so I picked up a small savoy cabbage.
With the cabbage I would make a stir fry with the ends of the green vegetables and carrots. The leafy part of the greens would be lightly blanched in shallow water.
Instead of cooking the vegetables with the sauces and seasonings, I decided to make a sauce to pour over top.
The cabbage, carrot, and greens stems, were sauteed with minced garlic in a pan and hot oil. For the leafy greens, I have just blanched them for around 60 seconds in shallow hot water.
I find that king oyster mushrooms are less watery then the common button mushroom.
They added a scallop like texture. I used to love scallops. King oysters are a great substitute for me.
I used a firm tofu as the protein.
I cubed the tofu and decided to fry them.
The cubes were coated with around two tablespoons of cornstarch, salt and pepper.
They were browned on all sides in a shallow oiled pan.
For the mushrooms, I sauteed in oil and added minced garlic salt and pepper.
Sauce
100g soy sauce
35g fermented black bean sauce
50g rice wine
20g rice vinegar
15g sesame oil
30g cane sugar
40g cornstarch
400g vegetable broth or water
50g chili
175g onion
20g garlic
15g ginger
This was the first time I have ever used fermented black bean paste, that I recall. It really added a flavour boost and umami.
I minced the garlic, chopped the onion and chili. They were browned then had the rest of the ingredients, except for the cornstarch, added to the pan.
A cup of the water was saved, and the cornstarch mixed in.
I decided to blend everything to make it smooth.
The sauce was reheated and drizzled on top of the veggies and tofu.
I have a lot of Jasmine rice so that was the starch and I added turmeric to it.
While I was in the Chinese grocer, I picked up a hot sauce that I've never had before. It had a nice flavour like sriracha but better.
Asian Veggie bowl
600g mustard greens
500g Chinese broccli
400g bok choy ( I think it's bok choy)
200g savoy cabbage
60g carrot
350g king oyster mushrooms
450g firm tofu
I don't know if I can call this Chinese food exactly. It was my own version of an Asian vegan medley. It was much less costly then going to the restaurant. It also came with the leftovers, which often come after dinner in a Chinese restaurant.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day.
Photos taken with a Nikon D7500 by me except for the ones of me, taken by my other half