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Here is a vegetable that goes by several name variations: kai-lan, gai-lan, Chinese broccoli, Chinese kale. This is the same leafy greens that I had kept asking my friend Alice for its name about but she didn’t know what it was in English. It’s kind of sad that I only found out about it when I went to the Chinese supermarket. I’m so good at this food-thing, you know? [grins]

According to Wikipedia, Gai-lan (English) is a “slightly bitter leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny, almost vestigial flower heads similar to those of broccoli”, as seen here in Exhibit A:

It is of the same species as broccoli and kale, hence it’s either Chinese broccoli OR kale. Its flavor is very similar to that of broccoli, but a bit sweeter. Gai-lan is widely eaten in Chinese cuisine — stir-fried with ginger and garlic or boiled served with oyster sauce, both of which I’ve tried. Unlike broccoli, where only the flowering parts are normally eaten,  the leaves and stems of the Chinese broccoli are eaten. For us Asians, the lesser the amount that needs to be thrown away, the better. We are, after all, from a culture where parents are bound to finish their kids leftovers because it would be such a waste not to.

When I cooked Gai-lan, I opted to experiment as usual, instead. Around the time that I made this, I felt like I was on the Iron Chef (for Dummies, mind you) with the “secret ingredient”: shiitake mushrooms. I bought a big bag of it and they ended up being cooked with : soy bean sprouts, chow mein (a concoction which will never make it to this site because if recipes were comedies, this would be the really bad slaptstick version), and with gai-lan and ground beef:

A la cuisine! Haha…sorry. I get carried away.

I really loved how this last-minute concoction turned out. The slight bitterness of the Chinese broccoli was counteracted by the ginger-y ground beef and soft mushrooms. Rice topped with this is perfection. Here is a simple balanced meal that is tasty and offers a lot of different textures, without an overpowering taste.

I’m not one to advocate deprivation, only moderation: a little meat, some veggies, and rice. That’s my eating logic, and I’m sticking to it. :)

If you’d like to try this, here is the recipe with step-by-step photo slideshow. Nom, nom,nom… (more…)

© Gourmeted.com, 2009. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: asian, Chinese broccoli, Chinese kale, gail-lan, ground beef, shiitake mushrooms

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That’s exactly what was going on in my mind when I embarked on this Pot Sticker Adventure. I was pretty confident I could pull this off by channeling my inner 1/minisculeth Chinese. A book I’m reading says this is what artists are prone to do — Wing It. Did I ever wing it. I just wanted to use what we had in the kitchen, including kale.

I think I added shredded kale, chopped carrots, green onions, salt, pepper to the ground pork. I can’t remember. I wrote down the ingredients but I could not find that piece of paper anymore.

I made the wrapper with equal parts boiling water and flour. [Please don't ask me what got into my head.] The sealing/folding left something to be desired, but it still resembled what it should look like. Somewhat.

In the end, my first pot sticker experiment tasted REALLY good for something that’s based out of nothing. Dan and I were more surprised than anything. The wrapper was not so good, so I’ll stick to pre-made ones next time. Other than that…yummy!

The dipping sauce, if you’re curious, was a mixture of light soy sauce, white vinegar and smashed whole clove of garlic. It’s a Filipino dip that’s normally used for roasted pig but I tried it with the pot stickers to balance the saltiness. Dan loved it. :)

What have you experimented/concocted lately? Share your links if you blogged about them.

© Gourmeted.com, 2008. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: asian, experiment, fried

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Anyway, back to what I was saying, I couldn’t help it. I’m a victim of autosuggestion — all those repetitive thoughts about chocolate, from all your beautiful websites and the Food Network chocolate specials, and now I feel like it flows through my veins and it’s haunting me! I have three chocolate projects coming up, just because I lose sleep thinking about making them — does that every happen to you? But I’ll save them for Valentine’s week.

For now, we’ll take a chocolate break today to give you something healthy. [I laughed when I read Arnold's comment yesterday that his doctor does not recommend visiting this site. Funny.]

I absolutely LOVE seafood, but Dan doesn’t. On the few occasions that he is willing to eat them, you bet I’m all over it. Last week we bought fresh shrimps and I asked if he wanted them for lunch and he said yes. What’s a seafood-deprived girl left to do? Scramble to find out what she can cook, make it as fast as possible, and feed it to him before he changes his mind! We both loved this Shrimp Stir-Fry experiment I cooked and I had to jot down what I did right after we ate so I’ll remember how I made it and what I made it with. All this hard work…haha.

Here’s a visual step-by-step cooking guide:

The recipe is behind the cut. (more…)

© Gourmeted.com, 2008. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: asian, seafood, shrimps, stir fry, vegetables

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