May 12, 2015 Lunch PPI Grouper Dinner- PPI Squash Mapo and Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy.

May 12, 2015 Lunch PPI Grouper   Dinner- PPI Squash Mapo and Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy

Lots of leftovers today.  Lunch was wonderful.  I heated the PPI Grouper, re-fried black beans and rice and sprinkled Chapala queso fresco on the beans.

The wind blew and it rained today so no bike ride.  Instead I decided to cook, so that dinner would be ready when Suzette arrived at around 7:00.  

I started cooking at around 6:00.  I fetched a container of PPI Squash Mapo and started cleaning and sectioning the baby bok choy.  

At 6:30 I started a pot with 1 ½ cups of rice by bringing a pot with 3 cups of water and 1 tsp. of dehydrated chicken stock to a boil and then adding 1 ½ cups of Basmati rice to the boiling water and then covering the pot and reducing the heat to the lowest temperature and simmering it for 30 minutes.  

Then I made the Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy.  I had bought a bag of baby bok choy at Ta Lin last week ($.98/lb.)

1 lb. of baby bok choy

1 Tbsp. of fresh garlic

2 Tsp. of fresh garlic

3 oz. of onion

3 shitake mushrooms, sliced

1 small can of sliced water chestnuts

1 Tbsp. peanut oil

1 1/2 Tbsp. of mushroom soy

2 Tbsp. of Chinese cooking wine

2 tsp. of sesame oil

2 tsp. of corn starch

4 oz. chicken stock

½ tsp. of salt

½ tsp. of sugar

3 oz. water

I cleaned the bok choy by cutting off the base of each bulb, separating each bulb into leaves and then separating the green leafy part from the white base part and cutting each part into bite sized pieces.  I then washed each under water to rinse away the dirt.

Then I cut about 3 oz. of sweet onion and 1 oz. (a quarter sized piece) of fresh ginger into threads.

Then I sliced three cloves of garlic (about 2 tsp.) into rounds.

I fetched and drained the contents of a small can of water chestnuts   

I heated 1 Tbsp. of peanut oil and 1 tsp. of sesame oil in the wok and put the onion, garlic and ginger into the heated oil and stir fried it for a couple of minutes.

I then added the white portion of the baby bok choy, 1/2 tsp. each of sugar and salt,  and stir fried it for a couple of minutes.

Then I added the green leaves of the baby bok choy and added ½ Tbsp. of mushroom soy and 1 Tbsp. of Chinese cooking wine.

The mixture was too dry so I made up 4 oz. of chicken stock and added that an covered the wok to steam the ingredients.

I made a thickening sauce with the 2 tsp. of corn starch, 1 tbsp. each of mushroom soy and Chinese cooking wine and 1 tsp. of sesame oil and 3 oz. of water

I added the shitake mushrooms, which I usually add with the green portion of the bok choy

After about five minutes more of cooking and steaming, when the rice was ready, I added the thickening sauce and stirred the mixture to integrate it into a thick brown sauce.  If the baby bok choy leaves collapse into a mush you have overcooked the dish. 

I heated the Mapo in the microwave for five minutes and we were ready to eat.  

I made lichee tea and Suzette fetched a beer from the garage.  I had bought the lichee tea on our trip to China in the Asian market in X’ian, so it brought back memories of China, although the Stir Fried Baby bok choy was better than almost any vegetable dish we had on our trip to China.

Squash Dofu on left, Baby bok choy on Right

This was a very successful dish.  It was constructed in the proper Chinese manner, using chicken stock and sauces to flavor the cooking ingredients and then thickening the liquid into a sauce to coat the ingredients with sauce.  It also had good ingredients cooked in a manner that cooked each ingredient the amount of time necessary to heat them or soften them to the same correct point of doneness.  I especially liked the water chestnuts and the sweet onion with the bok choy.

Bon Appétit