Stir-Fried Water Spinach and Stir-Fried Kailan

There's this cartoon on Nikelodeon call Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. It's basically Dora the Explorer but with an Asian girl speaking Cantonese. If you don't know Dora the Explorer, well, I feel sorry for you! Not really, I envy you. But anyway, Kai-Lan. When I first read the recipe, I thought "I'm going to eat a little Asian girl."

But no, the kailan in this meal is actually Chinese broccoli. No cannibalism here! Broccoli and kailan belong to the same species but are in different groups. Kailan doesn't really look like broccoli except for its very small and few florets; it's more leafy than anything. Broccolini is actually a hybrid of broccoli and kailan. Science!

 Stir-Fried Water Spinach

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp shrimp paste. Measure this out. Like, be exact.

1 clove garlic, chopped

4 oz fresh prawns, heads removed. I used shrimp because all the prawns at the Asian supermarket had heads and I thought they'd give me funny looks if I asked them to remove them for me. The shrimp did not have heads.

2 whole bird's-eye chilies, bruised. These are also known as Thai chilies. I had some green chilies left over from Nepal week so I used those but I made sure to bruise them by spanking them with the side of my knife.

1 tsp cornflour, dissolved in 1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp salt

1 lbs water spinach. I could not find water spinach a-ny-where and I went to two different Asian markets. One was a SUPERmarket. I even showed a picture to an employee at one of the markets and he just laughed and said "No." I didn't get the joke. Anyway, I ended up using kailan for this recipe as well since I had so much of it.

Heat the oil in a woke, stir in shrimp paste. I actually have a wok! My mom gave it to me when I moved up to Austin almost 15 years ago because she said it was necessary to have the basics in the kitchen. Why my mother thought a wok was a necessity, no clue, but I appreciate it now. Add the garlic and stir-fry till fragrant. Stir in the prawns and continue to fry for 1 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and fry over high heat for 3-5 minutes.

 Stir-Fried Kailan

1/2 cup boneless chicken, cut into thin strips

1 tsp rice wine

5 cups kailan, but into bite size pieces

1 tbsp oil

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tsp cornflour, dissolved in 1 tbsp water

Marinate the chicken in the rice wine for at least 10 minutes. Blanch the kailan in boiling water for a few seconds. Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the garlic and chicken for 3 minutes. Add the kailan and cover for 30 seconds. Add the salt, soy sauce, and cornflour paste and stir-fry to 2-3 minutes.

I also made some quick fried rice with soy sauce and ginger and garlic powders. So above the dish is what the meal was supposed to look like. Juuuust a little different; I think I made too much sauce.

I did not like this meal. The chicken was good, so that's nice, but the kailan was too bitter. The kailan with the shrimp was even worse because it was coated in shrimp paste, which is very fishy. And salty. I don't like fishy or salty. My husband suggested maybe this is 'umami' but I don't think so. Umami is supposed to be palatable, this was gross.

And of course neither girl ate it.

Not every meal can work for us and I'm slowly accepting it. I'll try this stir-fry with another green down the road, maybe bok-choy, but no more kailan.

Zai jian kailan.