Quick & Easy Chinese (29 page)
Read Quick & Easy Chinese Online
Authors: Nancie McDermott
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salads
EVERYDAY GREEN BEANS
Use this chapter to finally get around to eating vegetables, a lot of them, often, on an ongoing basis, just because they taste so good. Asian cooks love vegetables on their own terms, as interesting, unique, and potentially delicious ingredients worthy of a meaningful place at the table. They prepare vegetables with a minimum of fuss and effort, knowing when to act and when to leave things alone, when to combine several vegetables and when to focus on one ingredient.
Notice the dishes in this chapter, and how simple each one is. With the exception of
Corn with Tomatoes and Edamame Beans
(page 125), each is a starring role for one vegetable, and each has very few ingredients and a short cooking time.
You’ll need lots of garlic, ginger, and green onions (each a little at a time, of course) and a steady supply (in small amounts) of salt and Asian sesame oil. You’ll need a little time with knife and cutting board, to trim and chop most vegetables for these dishes. This chopping can be done in advance, leaving you ready to toss the ingredients together in a hot pan just before serving time.
You could also cook most of these dishes in advance, and then serve them warm or at room temperature. In fact many are even tasty cold, converting themselves into salad-type dishes for a picnic. They exist in Chinese cuisine to accompany rice, soup, and another dish or two or three depending on how many gather for a meal, as a salty, delicately crunchy, colorful, and fresh component of the menu. In addition, most of them can be tossed with hot noodles and perhaps a little olive oil, sesame oil, or butter if needed to create a flavorful noodle dish to accompany grilled fish, sautéed shrimp, a cool bowl of gazpacho, or creamy cucumber soup on a summery day.
Once you’ve done your knife work, you’re minutes away from simple and wonderful stir-fried dishes like
Everyday Green Beans
(page 119) and
Asparagus with Ginger and Sesame Oil
(page 123).
Corn with Tomatoes and Edamame Beans
(page 125) looks and tastes wonderful, and works beautifully whether you use fresh, frozen, or canned corn. Stir together
Cool and Tangy Cucumbers
(page 126) whenever you want a fast, fresh note on your menu.
Once you know how to cook
Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger
(page 127),
Napa Cabbage Stir-Fried with Ginger and Green Onion
(page 122), or
Bok Choy Stir-Fried with Garlic
(page 120), you will be thinking about how simple and tasty it would be to apply your vegetable stir-fry skills to an abundance of other vegetables. Stroll through the farmers’ market, or saunter by the salad bar, and see what comes to mind: bell peppers, watercress, spinach, broccoli rabe, fresh fava beans, sugar snap peas, savoy cabbage, or cauliflower can come out deliciously cooked in much the same way, quickly and easily.
Chinese cooks appreciate green beans for their straitlaced, sensible quality, cooking them with simplicity and speed. The result is a lovely pile of summery-green rods, firm to the bite and full of salty-sweet flavor. Make them often, and keep a batch cold in the fridge so that you can toss them into salads, fried rice, and pasta dishes right before they are done. They also make a dandy little snack and picnic component, along with tomato sandwiches (white bread, mayo, tomatoes, salt and pepper) and deviled eggs. On busy days, look for trimmed green beans in the produce section, bagged and ready to go.
1 pound fresh green beans
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
½ teaspoon salt
1
/
3
cup water or chicken stock
SERVES
4
NOTE
If you have a lid that fits on your skillet or down inside your wok but still above the beans, put it on after adding the water to boost the heat. Check often: you may need to add a little more water if they aren’t done on this schedule, and keep tossing till they are ready. Or turn them out, sauce and all, if they are done earlier. For tiny French-style haricots verts, shorten the cooking time
.