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Pictorial:Stir-fried Mustard Greens


hzrt8w

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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"
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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"
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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

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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"
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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"

 

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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?

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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

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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"
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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"
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  • 2 weeks later...
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

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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!

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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

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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"
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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"
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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.

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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

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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"
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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

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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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