After our recent day off plans had been spoiled by cool rainy weather, I forced myself to walk down to Chinatown and get some Asian greens. I have been wanting some for a while. The only thing you can get nearby is bok choy and nappa. I wanted the ones I can't remember the names of.
I reminisced about the last time we went to a restaurant in Chinatown which was over 3 years ago. Many are open until 3 or 4 a.m. which is good for restaurant workers like us. They always have a gangster movie vibe late at night, though we can't get ourselves to go to restaurants anymore.
I did wish to have some Asian food after going down there. I would have to make my own. This was going to be simple and quick. I needed to relax due to an injury that set me back . I slipped off a crate at work and landed on the sink on my ribs. I don't go to doctors so I think it could be a fracture. I can feel something clicking when I move a certain way. It's painful to do things but I do them anyway. I'm just simplifying our meals for now. I chose to make something fast but enjoyable.
I wanted to have an appetizer, as I would have if I were in a restaurant. From bean sprouts and nappa cabbage, I made spring rolls. This is simple and fast if you use ready made wrappers.
This is a very basic recipe which doesn't take long at all.
Spring Rolls
Half a medium size nappa
1 carrot
3 or 4 cups bean sprouts
1 stalk green onion
1 tablespoon rice flour or other starch
Sprinkle of salt and pepper
Chop the ingredients and saute until tender. Squeeze out excess liquid and leave it to add to the sauce for vegetables later. Toss with starch and put in the fridge to cool.
When cooled, put a spoonful on each wrapper, bring the edges up and roll gently but as tightly as possible. I messed up a few and tossed them. It's not something I'm good at.
have a little starch and water paste to seal the wrappers at the top.
I shallow fried them on medium high in oil then put them in the oven for a little while until they seemed cooked to my liking. they could have been served right out of the pan but I wanted to make sure they were crispy and hot all the way through.
I used a plum sauce for dipping. I had made it the week before. It was from over ripe juicy sweet plums that were in the markdown bin.
For this sauce I cooked the plums then added fried garlic, ginger, a dash of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, cider vinegar, salt, a pinch of five spice, chilly powder, cane sugar and a little cornstarch to thicken. I made it sweet and tart to suit my taste.
While the spring rolls were in the oven I washed the greens then quickly blanched them in boiling water. When they were tender I cooled them off and drained them then set aside.
I don't know what these are called but I think one of these are Chinese broccoli and the other had a Chinese name written in Chinese. They sometimes only put French and Chinese on the labels if they don't know the English name.
I put half of the greens in a freezer bag and put them in the freezer for some quick meal in the future.
To keep things easy and simple I made a sauce/broth to pour over the vegetables and the rest of the food. I used basic simple Asian store ingredients from a bottle.
Sauce/broth (amounts are approximate)
1/8 cup vegan fish sauce
1/8 cup Braggs liquid Aminos or soy sauce
3 tablespoons vegan hoisin sauce
1 small shallot
2 tablespoons minced ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
3 small fresh chilies
1 tabelspoon sambel oleck (optional)
Juice of a lime
Handful of chopped Thai basil
2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 cup agave nectar
*2 tablespoons mushroom powder(optional)
*The mushroom powder is what I had made before from dried shitake, and kelp. It was ground up and stored to use whenever. There is one that can be bought from the Chinese grocer but I won't use that because it seems to work like MSG. I try to avoid MSG and yeast extract.
Saute shallot garlic, chili and ginger in neutral oil. I used a good amount of oil and kept it fairly low to get a sort of confit but not necessary.
When those are browned add the rest of the ingredients and cooked down until smooth and slightly thickened.
I chose tofu as a protein which I would have left out but my partner, who grew up on meat and potatoes is the equivalent in the plant based realm. This had already been marinating in a simple veggie broth with a dash of Braggs liguid aminos. Tofu is difficult to over salt in my opinion. I cooked it in a shallow pan with it's liquids and let it absorb. When the liquid was almost gone it was ready.
Mean while I cooked some rice. It was red rice. This was the first time I ever bought it and cooked it. I'm also not sure if it's the first time I've eaten it.
When I first came to Canada with my Thai mother at the age of four, I remember a couple of times where she made red rice in the apartment that we rented with my Canadian dad. I specifically remember somehow that it was "red rice". I don't know if it was red grain rice or if it was rice that she made red somehow. I distinctly remember the smell when it was cooking and it was the smell of a gas stove. I don't remember the taste but I'm sure I liked it.
I would describe the taste of the rice, as a cross between wild and whole grain rice. Not sure but I really liked it. It has a nourishing feel to it when you eat it. It has texture as well.
I added the sauce/broth to the bottom of the bowl, then the other items.
I accompanied with a salad,
The salad was made from items that needed to be used. This was a simple chopping of tomatoes, avocado, and red onion on top of salad greens. I was originally going to put chopped mango but they were a little too ripe so I turned the mango into a vinaigrette. I simply added ripe mangoes to a blender along with cider vinegar, garlic, olive oil, juice of a lime, salt and pepper and a touch of agave to add a little more sweetness. It was still tart at the end. I guess this was more of a Mexican Asian fusion.
Some may think this is not that simple but it really is once you gather the ingredients.
The blanching of the greens instead of frying them in a wok, makes it easier to control. The sauce is what decorates the simplicity of the other items.
Thanks for dropping by and I wish you all a great day.
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