It's Wok Wednesday #1: Stir-Fry Garlic and Spinach

Stir-Fry Garlic and Spinach

Hey, Happy Wok Wednesday #1. Our first recipe in our quest for learning how to cook with a wok!! 

Our first recipe is Stir-Fry Garlic and Spinach.  My first attempt, I burned the garlic.  No real surprise there for me.  I was following the recipe exactly, but my stove is electric and 15 years old.  I know it runs hot.  I rinsed it out and started over.  I reduced the heat to medium instead of the medium-high recommended by Grace and it worked much better.

I love cooked spinach as well as spinach salads.  This was a cross between the two.  I didn't really taste any of the sugar even though I was careful to sprinkle the salt and sugar over the entire mixture instead of just dumping it in.  I would try it again with adding a little additional sugar to see if I can taste it.  It's not necessary; I'm just curious. 

Overall, I enjoyed the spinach.  It was fork tender without being too mushy or slimy. 

More about Tools and Ingredients

When I received my new wok, I also got a few tools as part of the kit I ordered:

• Metal spatula
• Metal ladle
• Spider or strainer
• Large chopsticks
• Bamboo steamer

You can use any metal spatula or flat fish turner you have in your kitchen as well as other tools you have.  The metal spatula is important to be able to get under delicate meat without tearing it up.  If your wok is not made of a non-stick surface the metal tools are definitely recommended.  (Do NOT waste your money on a non-stick wok.  It can't stand up to the high temperatures used in wok cooking.)

It's always important to use the freshest ingredients when you're stir-frying.  The only exception is when you're making fried rice.  Use leftover rice.  Chop all ingredients ahead of time so when you begin to cook you can focus totally on the wok.  It goes very fast. Basic produce items used in Wok Cooking are:
Vegetables  (wash and dry them completely before stir-frying)

• Bean Sprouts
• Bok Choy
• Chayote
• Chiles (Fresh and Dried)
• Chinese Broccoli
• Chinese eggplant
• Cilantro
• Edamame
• Fava Beans
• Fuzzy Melon
• Garlic
• Ginger root
• Long Beans
• Lotus Root
• Several varieties of mushrooms--Dried and Fresh
• Napa Cabbage
• Snow Pea Shoots
• Water Chestnuts
• Water Spinach
• You Choui
• Scallions
• Low Sodium Chicken and/or Vegetable stock (homemade if possible)

Here are a few essential ingredients you need to always have on hand in your pantry:
Sauces:  (Buy them as you need them to start building your pantry.)

• Bean Sauce
• Chili Bean Sauce
• Chili Garlic Sauce
• Fish Sauce
• Hoisin Sauce
• Oyster Sauce
• Rice Wine or Dry Sherry
• Rice Wine Vinegar
• Shao Hsing Rice Wine
• Soy Sauce (light and dark)
• Toasted Sesame Oil
• Vinegar--Chinkiang and Rice
• Wet Bean Curd, White

Oils:

• Chili Oil
• Peanut Oil
• Sesame Oil

Dried Ingredients:

• Cloud Ears
• Curry Powder
• Fermented Black Beans
• Five Spice

Noodles: (Dried and Fresh)

• Broad Rice (F)
• Chinese Egg Noodles (F)
• Cellophane (D)
• Rice Sticks (D)

Fresh Ingredients: (as needed for the recipe you are going to make)

• Chinese Bacon
• Chinese Sausage
• Tofu (Firm and Five Spice)
• Shrimp Scallops
• Shrimp
• Scallops
• Chicken
• Beef
• Sichuan Peppercorns

Grace Young has a section in her book completely devoted to ingredients and even provides a picture so if you go to an Asian grocery, in which labels are usually not in English, you can point to the picture and ask to grocer to help you find the items.

Let's talk about the quest for the best ingredients and tools.  
First, you need the Wok and other tools associated with using it.  I ordered my wok from The Wok Shop in San Francisco.  I had a smaller 12 inch wok from Bed Bath and Beyond, but Grace recommended the 14 inch wok because of the cooking surface and the ability to move the food up the sides of the wok to get the maximum benefits from the cooking surface.  I'm going to experiment with both because I'm single and cooking for one is always a challenge, but recipes are usually written for 4 at a minimum.

I received my new wok a few days ago and seasoned it according to Grace's recommendations. I also used the video from The Wok Shop as a guide.  It is beautiful!!  See the video from the Wok Shop on how I did it.



See below my Woks after seasoning.  I used the method in the video from the Wok Shop and scallions and ginger for my pungent ingredients.  The aroma during the seasonin was incredible, especially too from the peanut oil.

14 inch Wok:

12 inch Wok:

With time these will go even darker. 

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Join us every other Wednesday cooking recipes from "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge" by Grace Young.  Our schedule begins next Wednesday, May 16th, 2012.  Here's how:

1. Get the cookbook.
2. Go to Wok Wednesday's blog to see the schedule and the recipes for each Wednesday we are cooking.
3. If you need a wok, see Grace Young's Website for her recommendations.  She recommends a 14 inch carbon steel wok.  Season it and begin cooking.  Also see, recommendations for ingredients and other supplies.

The first recipe we will be cooking is the simplest I've seen.  Garlic Spinach (p.202 in the book.) 

I can't wait to get started!!