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oriental recipes

MINDFUL EATING
M.F.K. Fisher, in the intro. to the 1951 revision of her 1942 book of how to live during wartime rationing, How to Cook a Wolf, says:

"There are very few men or women, I suspect, who cooked and marketed their way through the past war without losing forever the extravagance of the Twenties. They will forever feel, until their final days on earth, a kind of culinary caution: butter, no matter how unlimited, is a precious substance not lightly to be wasted; meats, too, and eggs, and all the far-brought spices of the world, take on a new significance, having once been so rare. And that is good, for there can be no more shameful carelessness than with the food we eat for life itself. When we exist without thought or thanksgiving we are not men, but beasts."

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 bunch spinach (about 10 ounces)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Shao Hsing rice wine or dry sherry

 Heat a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over high heat until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 to 2 seconds of contact.

Swirl in the oil, add the garlic, and stir-fry 10 seconds.

Add all the spinach and stir-fry 10 seconds.

Add the salt, sugar, and rice wine.

Stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until the spinach is just tender but still bright green.

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal.

Bok choy that is no more than 8 inches in length.

The larger bunches tend to be tough and old.

Select bok choy that has unblemished leaves and closed buds.

Yellow flowers are an indication that the bok choy is past its prime.

1 pound bok choy

1 cup Homemade Chicken Broth (page 195)

1 tablespoon Shao Hsing rice wine or dry sherry

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 slices ginger

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Separate the bok choy into stalks. Trim 1/4 inch from the bottom of each stalk.

Cut the stalks and 2“ pcs.

In a small bowl mix broth, rice wine, salt, and sugar.

Put a 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over high until a bead of water vaporizes within 1 second of contact. Swirl in the vegetable oil, add the ginger, and stir-fry 10 seconds.

Add the bok choy and stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until the leaves are just limp and the bok choy is bright green.

Stir the broth mixture and swirl it into the wok.

Stir-fry 1 to 2 minutes or until the bok choy is just cooked.

Drizzle with the sesame oil.

Serves 4 as part of a multicourse meal.