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Pictorial:Stir-fried Mustard Greens

hzrt8w

By hzrt8w
in China: Cooking & Baking

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hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
Posted

Stir-fried Mustard Greens (Gai Choy) with Salted Fish (咸鱼抄芥菜)

I bought some very fresh mustard greens (gai choy [Cantonese]). Usually I would simply stir-fry it with some oil and garlic. Inspired by some talks of salted fish (ham yue [Cantonese]) in this forum, I had decided to try using salted fish to jazz up the taste. The result was surprisingly good. The taste of salted fish seems to blend very well with mustard greens.

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Some fresh mustard greens.

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Mustard greens chopped into bite-size pieces. Wash well and drain the excess water.

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Ingredients: use some garlic and salted fish.

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I took a small piece of salted fish from the jar. (I bought those salted mackerals kept in a jar of oil.) Chop the salted fish into small pieces.

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The stir-frying method is very simple. Heat up the pan/wok in high heat. Add chopped garlic and salted fish. Add a pinch of salt. Cook for 20-30 seconds until fragrant. Keep stirring.

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Add mustard greens. Cook with the lid on for about 5-10 minutes.

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Finished dish.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
Pan

Pan

Posted
Posted

Yum! When are you inviting me over? :laugh:

Seriously, I love mustard greens -- so tasty and refreshing. And garlic, that's one of God's greatest gifts. :smile:

Michael aka "Pan"

 

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Double yum! Hz, you still need salt meh, with all that salted fish?

I didn't use the much salted fish last time. But you are right, you can skip the "pinch of salt". Solely personal preference adjustment.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted

How many jars of fu yu, nam yu, and ham yu do you use in a month, hzrt? Looks like you are trying to educate the world about these ingrdients! :laugh:

I love mustard greens, ham yu and garlic, but would never have thought to stir-fry them together! I have lived such a sheltered life! :shock: Three very strong flavours together - did they complement eachother? I can't imagine any of them being "buried".

I usually see 2 different kinds of mustard greens. The ones you used, are the ones I get from my "aunties", small mustard green. I can see these being stir-fried. The larger one with the big stalks have a more pungent taste. I love using these in soup, with pork bones, sliced pork, and a big hunk of ginger. Ginger is a must in making this soup.

Po-Po said if you leave ginger out, the gai choi soup will taste "sang", or fishy. And then, here is hzrt, who puts ham yu with guy choi! :laugh:

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
How many jars of fu yu, nam yu, and ham yu do you use in a month, hzrt? Looks like you are trying to educate the world about these ingrdients! :laugh:

I think the "western" world is mostly familiar with the northern style of Chinese cooking and has under-appreciated the Cantonese style of cooking, especially the ones done at home as a day-to-day affair. We Cantonese do use the ingredients such as fu yu, nam yu, ham yu often, don't we? :biggrin:

I love mustard greens, ham yu and garlic, but would never have thought to stir-fry them together! I have lived such a sheltered life! :shock: Three very strong flavours together - did they complement eachother? I can't imagine any of them being "buried".

I usually see 2 different kinds of mustard greens. The ones you used, are the ones I get from my "aunties", small mustard green. I can see these being stir-fried. The larger one with the big stalks have a more pungent taste. I love using these in soup, with pork bones, sliced pork, and a big hunk of ginger. Ginger is a must in making this soup.

I don't feel that mustard greens have a strong flavor. Oh, maybe you mean it tastes a little bit like mustard? :laugh: We like that taste. I think the 3 ingredients work well together, but everybody's taste is different. I just want to illustrate some possibilities.

I agree the "big" mustard greens, because of their thick stalks (and even stronger mustard flavor), are usually used in soups. One dish that I really like is big mustard greens in a little bit of chicken broth, with tofu and fish balls and meat slices!

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
Pan

Pan

Posted
Posted
I think the "western" world is mostly familiar with the northern style of Chinese cooking and has under-appreciated the Cantonese style of cooking, especially the ones done at home as a day-to-day affair.[...]

Well, I suppose some of the most familiar dishes come from Toisan, but I don't understand why you would say that the "western" world is more familiar with northern Chinese cooking. Go back about 40 years, and it was pretty difficult to find a Chinese restaurant that wasn't basically Toisanese or Cantonese adapted for American tastes -- at least that was certainly true in New York, but I think also in most of the rest of this country. Sure, people had heard of Peking Duck, but what were people having most often?

Michael aka "Pan"

 

jo-mel

jo-mel

Posted
Posted

I also love the taste of mustard greens, but usually have pickled them - or in soup.

I think that next week, it will be this stir/fry. But I only have dried conpoy in my refrig. I will look for salted fish in the store, but will any jarred fish do if I don't see that brand?

Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted

I agree with you, Pan. The western world was certainly more familiar with Cantonese/southern Chinese food than northern Chinese. This was due to the immigrants who were from that area. Didn't Peking duck only gain notoriety when Nixon visited China?

When I say gai choi has a strong flavour, I meant that the taste is stronger than, for example, bak choi or suey choi.

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
Well, I suppose some of the most familiar dishes come from Toisan, but I don't understand why you would say that the "western" world is more familiar with northern Chinese cooking. Go back about 40 years, and it was pretty difficult to find a Chinese restaurant that wasn't basically Toisanese or Cantonese adapted for American tastes -- at least that was certainly true in New York, but I think also in most of the rest of this country. Sure, people had heard of Peking Duck, but what were people having most often?

You are right. My view/statement was based on my (now I realize) limited experiences in California in the past two decades. These days, though, you will find many Chinese restaurants - even those stated as Cantonese cuisine - offer kung pao chicken, orange beef, mongolian beef, even mu shu pork. Would it be that those are more popular than mo goo gai pan and egg foo young? :smile:

Edited by hzrt8w (log)
W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I think that next week, it will be this stir/fry. But I only have dried conpoy in my refrig. I will look for salted fish in the store, but will any jarred fish do if I don't see that brand?

Are those "jarred fish" salted? I suspect they are. If so, should be just as good.

In Hong Kong, I found other fish species than Mackeral but couldn't recall what the name was. But in the USA, I could not find them again. It has a lot to do with the grocer supplier chain. Next time I go to San Francisco I need to make a point to shop for some good salted fish.

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
  • 2 weeks later...
Carlovski

Carlovski

Posted
Posted

Strange isn't it - swap the greens and the salted fish for anchovies and this wouldn't look out of place in the italian forum.

Greens and salty fish - match made in heaven!

I love animals.

They are delicious.

trillium

trillium

Posted
Posted
I think that next week, it will be this stir/fry. But I only have dried conpoy in my refrig. I will look for salted fish in the store, but will any jarred fish do if I don't see that brand?

Are those "jarred fish" salted? I suspect they are. If so, should be just as good.

In Hong Kong, I found other fish species than Mackeral but couldn't recall what the name was. But in the USA, I could not find them again. It has a lot to do with the grocer supplier chain. Next time I go to San Francisco I need to make a point to shop for some good salted fish.

Try some nice dried, salted snapper, May Wah used to carry really nice (expensive) ones you can buy whole. I tend to prefer the dried(salted) fish that hasn't been jarred because I like seeing the quality of the fish and I feel like it's more flexible to use. I make an exception for threadfin, because I can only find it jarred in the US. The different varieties of mackerel are good, but I think some of the more expensive fish like snappers and threadfins are even tastier dried and salted.

regards,

trillium

jo-mel

jo-mel

Posted
Posted

hzrt -- I made this for dinner tonight. I told DH (my chopsuey gourmet) that it was mustard green with garlic and a secret ingredient. I asked him if he could figure out what the secret ingredient was. His answer ----- ketchup?

See what I have to live with!! LOL!

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
.....His answer ----- ketchup?

See what I have to live with!!  LOL!

And you have been married for how many years??? :laugh:

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted (edited)

hzrt: Any idea what the English name for "Sam gnah wong/ three teeth yellow?" is? That's the kind of wind dried salty fish I always buy. It's also "mui hern" texture - soft, melt in your mouth texture. It's quite expensie as well, runs around $12.00 a fish about 12 to 14 inches long.

Edited by Dejah (log)

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
hzrt: Any idea what the English name for "Sam gnah wong/ three teeth yellow?" is? That's the kind of wind dried salty fish I always buy.

I know that in Chinese it is "三牙黄". I have found pages (in Chinese) with reference to it. But I don't know what it's called in English.

Here is the only picture I could find on Google: 三牙黄

http://www.trongman.com.tw/abook/a192.HTM

About 2 pages down, under the heading "石首魚科".

Does anybody recognize this fish and know its name in English?

Edited by hzrt8w (log)
W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
I know that in Chinese it is "三牙黄".  I have found pages (in Chinese) with reference to it.  But I don't know what it's called in English.

Dejah:

After a visit to a local Asian grocer, I found that they labelled 黄鱼 ("yellow fish") as croaker. Perhaps the 3-tooth yellow fish is just a variety of the yellow fish.

I found a site that has a good illustration of croaker:

http://myfwc.com/marine/photo.htm

Just click on the 5th link "Atlantic croaker", a JPG file will come up.

I know that from a dried salted fish it may be difficult to tell... Does that illustration looks like the "mui hern" salted fish that you bought?

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
wesza

wesza

Posted
Posted
hzrt: Any idea what the English name for "Sam gnah wong/ three teeth yellow?" is? That's the kind of wind dried salty fish I always buy. It's also "mui hern" texture - soft, melt in your mouth texture. It's quite expensie as well, runs around $12.00 a fish about 12 to 14 inches long.

If I'm not mistaken that may a small version of the type of Fish that in Hong Kongs shops specializing in Salt Fish is displayed standing up on it's head in Salt.

The majority are relatively small [a little goes a long way] but they also display larger fish about 1 1/2 caddys in weight to select from at a premium price for special occassions. They now retail at HK $100.00 to 125.00 per caddy. [20 ounces]

Irwin :raz: [salty Old Man or Ham Sap Low] the salutation i received when buying this Fish from the Shop Employees.

I don't say that I do. But don't let it get around that I don't.

Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted
hzrt: Any idea what the English name for "Sam gnah wong/ three teeth yellow?" is? That's the kind of wind dried salty fish I always buy. It's also "mui hern" texture - soft, melt in your mouth texture. It's quite expensie as well, runs around $12.00 a fish about 12 to 14 inches long.

Irwin :raz: [salty Old Man or Ham Sap Low] the salutation i received when buying this Fish from the Shop Employees.

Mui hern just describes the softer texture...altho' I don't think the characters translate as such...I just buy what Mom's tells me to... :rolleyes:

A little goes a long ways does not apply to my family! One fish will do 2 meals...and they fight for the bones!

Wesza: Is it because you buy "so many salty fish" that you were given that title? :unsure::raz:

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

hzrt8w

hzrt8w

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Mui hern just describes the softer texture...altho' I don't think the characters translate as such...I just buy what Mom's tells me to... :rolleyes:

Dejah: you don't want to know! :laugh: Just that one of the two words means "fragrant". That's enough. :smile:

W.K. Leung ("Ah Leung") aka "hzrt8w"
Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted
Mui hern just describes the softer texture...altho' I don't think the characters translate as such...I just buy what Mom's tells me to... :rolleyes:

Dejah: you don't want to know! :laugh: Just that one of the two words means "fragrant". That's enough. :smile:

mui=FERMENTED?

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

Dejah

Dejah

Posted
Posted
Sue-On from Brandon, Manitoba....you asked for it! Mui = Rotting

sigh.................................

Young ladies should use more delicate vocabulary...especially when addressing their elders....

Dejah

www.hillmanweb.com

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