And if she doesn’t cook… then I cook Qian-style dishes. I never really enjoyed Chinese food, but that girl’s culinary skills totally converted me. Maybe it is the distinct lack of monosodium glutamate in her dishes that make them so much more delightful than all the stuff you can get in China Town. Or it is the mere simplicity that makes re-creating her dishes so tempting.
Take steamed lettuce in oyster sauce. Man, that’s good. And on the table in less than 5 minutes. My fridge is packed with little gems at the moment and I have a daily fight with my Guineas over who gets to eat them. I loose out most of the time as I am too lazy to go and get some other stuff for them, but whenever I can I would prepare them as a side dish for prawn dumplings, which are about the only ready meal I have in my freezer.
Steamed little gems in Oyster sauce, for 2: leaves of 2-3 little gems
: 1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
: vegetable oil
: 2-3 tsp Oyster sauce
: splash of Soy sauce
Blanch the lettuce in some boiling water. In the meantime, heat a little vegetable oil in a pan and fry the garlic for a minute or two before adding the blanched lettuce leaves together with the Oyster sauce and little water if necessary. Finish off with a splash of Soy sauce and serve immediately.
