For a long time,
I wondered why I could not get my non-Chinese friend
to cook a simple dish of my mother’s.
This is how simple her cooking is.
First, set a carbon steel cookware or wok on the stove.
Preferably a gas range which can burn very hot.
Leave the cookware or wok to heat up.
Once you see fumes starting, pour some oil in.
And let it fume some more.
My mother would be busy around the kitchen,
oblivious to the wok fuming on the stove.
She was not ignoring it.
Herein lies her secret.
“Let the wok get very very hot, fuming hot,” she told us.
“Then put in the chopped garlic, after that the vegetable.
A fast stir fry, season it and it is done.”
The wok is very hot only if it sizzles when vegetables are added.
The heat causes the garlic to stick to the vegetable.
Giving it that aroma and taste.
One day, it finally came to me,
Why my non-Chinese friends were not able to cook that simple dish.
They did not grow up, with hot fumes from the wok,
which could set off their smoke alarms.
Hot fumes which cause the smell of garlic to permeate the entire house.
That would be too much for many.
If you have a stove outside,
the courage to brave a hot fuming wok,
try that recipe.
Simple and tasty.
One reminder, if you add water,
Add a little at a time and it is a stir fry.
Add too much and it is boiled vegetables.
Too much water, and it spoils the effect.