Wok-Seared Vegetables

Serves 4 as a vegetable side dish.

This recipe is a template for how to stir-fry vegetables with hard, medium-hard, and soft textures. "Hard" carrots are cut into 1/4-inch-thick julienne pieces so that they cook quickly. Blanching the "medium-hard" asparagus enables it to be stir-fried together with the shiitake mushrooms and "soft" cherry tomatoes. This is a dish I like to make in the spring when asparagus comes into season. I prefer using grape tomatoes because they have more flavor than regular tomatoes that time of the year. You can substitute button mushrooms for the shiitakes.

• 12 ounces medium asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
       (about 2 cups)
• 3 tablespoons Shao Hsing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 cup julienned carrots
• 8 medium fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps quartered
       (about 4 ounces)
• 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3/4 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a 2-quart saucepan bring 3 cups water to a boil over high heat. Add the asparagus and cook, stirring, 1 minute or until the asparagus is bright green and the water has almost returned to a boil. Drain the asparagus in a colander, shaking well to remove excess water. In a small bowl combine the rice wine, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.

2. Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok or 12-inch skillet over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact. Swirl in the oil, add the shallot, ginger, and garlic, and stir-fry 10 seconds or until the aromatics are fragrant. Add the asparagus, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms and stir-fry 1 minute or until the mushrooms begin to wilt. Add the tomatoes, sprinkle on the sugar and salt, swirl the rice wine mixture into the wok, and stir-fry 1 minute or until the vegetables are crisp-tender.

• from:
  Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge:
  The Ultimate Guide to Mastery, with Authentic Recipes and Stories
• by Grace Young
• Photographs by Steven Mark Needham
• Simon & Schuster 2010
• Hardcover; $35.00
• ISBN-10: 1416580573
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-8057-7
• Reprinted by permission.

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This page created September 2010