Stir Fry Vege Basics

When cooking green vegetables such as cabbages, bok choy, choy sum, spinach, and even kang-kung, there is a simple and great way to do it. You can use this one style to cook almost all the veges and achieve a pretty decent dish. Here are the basic ingredients I use,

• Garlic
• Salt
• Chicken Broth / Bouillon

With these three ingredients (cooking oil included of course), I am able to stir fry any or most vegetables quick and easy but at the same time flavorful. The reason is really because sometimes I'd like to taste the flavor of the vege. When you add an extra ingredient that has a stronger flavor, it takes away the "freshness" and "refreshing" feel out of eating vegetables. Now, I absolutely hate salad or anything uncooked, but to be a fair judge, I'm starting to pick it up and see if I can make it into something that would fit my palette. Back to the recipe, I of course usually add a little extra ingredients here and there to my veges so that it seems more "complete" or maybe it doesn't look so plain. So I always look into my fridge and add everyday things that I like such as tofu, shrimps, pieces of meat, anchovies, ginger, mushrooms, etc.

However, just with the basic ingredients, here is how I cook my veges.

1. Heat up a wok or frying pan with some cooking oil. Allow wok to be really hot before adding anything and the reason is so that you can cook the vege quick and retain the freshness and texture.
2. Add some garlic (chopped, minced, sliced or however you like it) and because the oil is hot its going to cook really fast so be be careful not to let it burn.
3. Once the garlic turns a  very light brown which only takes a few seconds, quickly toss in the vegetable (your vege should be cut into smaller sizes and soaked in water) of your choice into the wok  / frying pan. Now, if you plan to add say ground meat or any other the extra ingredients into your vege dish, cook those first before adding your vege.
4. Take a lid and cover your wok / frying pan. Since your vege has some water on it when you soaked it, it will help with your garlic and vege not burning because all the water will continue to drip towards the bottom of the wok/frying pan. 
5. About maybe 30 seconds later, start tossing and turning the vege around. Add some salt and chicken broth/bouillon to taste.
6. Once the vege is done, quickly serve on a plate. I sometimes turn off the fire just before the vege is cook and let the residual heat from the wok to cook it just a little so that the vege is not overcooked and turns soft.