Stir-fried Baby Kailan with Salted Fish 小芥兰炒咸鱼
Recently, I am in love with stir frying vegetables because it’s much cheaper to cook them at home. For example, the pack of baby kailan I used for the plate above is only S$0.60 and the total cost of making the dish is only about a dollar or so. This is a fraction of the price which outside is charging! But I have a love-hate relationship with stir frying vegetables because I’m so scared of oil splatters. My family is quite accustomed to hearing sudden yelps of “Ouch!” whenever I got splattered by the hot oil. I was so scared that I even stir fry the vegetables at a low heat. But later, I found out that stir frying vegetables at high heat for a short period yield better results. The trick is to dry your vegetables well after rinsing them to avoid splatters. With some practice (I’m still working on it), a delicious plate like this can be whipped up in less than 5 minutes – really “fast food” and good food to me!
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Ingredients
(serves 2)- 200g baby kailan, ends trimmed and then cut roughly to smaller pieces
- 15g dried salted fish (咸鱼), soaked in water to soften, patted dry with kitchen towel, then diced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
- 2 tbsp of cooking oil
- 4cm piece of large red chilli, deseeded and sliced thinly
- 1/2 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Tiao/Shao Hsing) – optionalDirections
1. Heat oil in wok and fry salted fish until golden brown.
2. Add garlic and stir fry for 30 seconds.
3. Add baby kailan and sliced chilli, and stir fry at high heat for a quick few minutes, until the vegetables have just withered and are well coated in the oil. I did not add any salt to season as the salted fish is already salty.
4. If you like, you can drizzle 1/2 tbsp Chinese wine just before you finish cooking. Garnish and serve with thinly sliced lime or lemon wedges.
Cooking Notes
1. Different brands of salted fish have different degree of saltiness so you may need to experiment and adjust the quantity accordingly.
2. To prevent splatter, after you wash the vegetables, air dry or spin dry them before stir frying.
3. Stir frying on high heat for a short time allows the vegetables to be crisp and still retain their beautiful hue.
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{ 44 comments… read them below or add one }
Love stir fried baby kailan – over here a plate like that in a restaurant could easily be RM8. So making it at home is not only healthier but much cheaper too. Nice.
Wiffy, this is a simple dish that I always get to see on my dinner table but you made this dish looks so fresh and nice in your photos!
Of all kai lan, this gotta be my favourite!! *wink*
Errrmmm.. i think my family are still not accustomed to my screaming no matter how many times i let out a spine chilling scream. Hahhaa! It always gets them (only the little ones though! grrr) running to me asking if i’m ok! :P
at least your kids show concern for you … my family don’t bother to check anymore lol
I love stir-fried veggies! It’s simple to cook but yum … Beautiful picture captures all the freshness :)
Your addition of lemon is a refreshing touch. You made the otherwise ordinary dish so extraordinary. After cooking vegetables at home for a while, I realized it is ALWAYS a rip-off when you order vegetables outside, and they also make vegetables so very greasy which I hate. So better to cook veggies at home. :)
yep, veggies and seafood are always so exp. Especially when you are in US, the fresh and live seafood are comparatively much cheaper :)
Better to cook your own veggie – good value for money and cook to your taste. The sliced lemon lends an unusual flavour to the dish!
Try washing veggies whole i.e with stalks minus roots much earlier before cooking. Hang to drip dry in a bunch, then cut before cooking.
Prevents less splattering. Hope this helps.
Great tips! thanks so much for sharing. My mum always ask me to wash veggies sooner but sometimes I am just so last minute!
I have the exact same plate and yes, very much like you, I hate oil splatter too! I wipe the veges with kitchen towel but now, I just pass it through a salad spinner and it worked beautifully, minimal splatter!
Was just toying with the idea to buy a salad spinner to dry my veggies when I was in Ikea last week, but my kitchen is getting so cluttered that I have to think hard b4 adding another item :(
Any vegetables fried with salted fish is my favourite. Yours looks very delicious. I have to make salted fish again to cook this….yum
woah home-made salted fish! you’re good! ;)
I can have stir-fried greens every day, especially home-made ones like yours. Crisp and bright.
salted fish! i love their taste, but haven’t figured out how to treat them yet. fry? toast? care to do an entry for cooking newbies like me? :)
Are u in the US? the salted fish is something readily available in Asian grocery stores in the US. I just soak them in water to soften and then cut to small bits. The ones I use for this dish looks like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiffygal/5033118631/
Yes I will write about it on NC Ingredients when I have time :)
oh? its served with slices of lemon i see.. it must taste real good =]
Salted fish and lemon..yum yum!
I just love this dish! delicious
I love how evergreen and doable all your recipes are =) I’ve been using so many of them! Your blog is better than any Singapore cookbook seriously =)
aww, you made me blush. Thanks for your encouragement :)
Besides being a talented chef, I guess you must be a great in-house finance minister! I love how you picked those economical veggies and cooked them like a restaurant dishes. They look so yummy! ;)
You never see all the failed cooking experiments I have to “write off”… lol
I am a big fan of kai lan.. I don’t think I can get hold of baby kailan here.. I really miss it!
This looks very good…! Crisp and green and fresh, great job Wiffi!:)
Yummy! I like stir-fried kailan too. Asian kailan is different from the US kailan sold here.
Oh ya I think it’s quite difficult to find baby kailan in US? Over here we have the thick stem kailan too that’s often served in Cantonese restaurants (I think that’s the one US have), but I prefer baby kailan coz I hate to eat stems, haha
simple but beautiful!
I never miss a veggies stir-fried dish whenever I have rice or porridge. I love veggies!
It’s so true! and so much healthier as less oil when cooked at home too! I like how u garnish it with lemons!
Your baby kailan stir-fry looks so pretty! hehe..I love that you used salted fish bits too – they really add lots of taste to stir-frys :)
Your greens look so fresh! I have a suspicion I’m always overcooking mine, haha. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It looks really great.
Your baby kailan looks very fresh and crispy. Must taste great!
I get splattered a lot when frying tofu, but it’s worth it! This looks fresh and delicious, and I love the lemon garnish.
Ohhh, I miss salted fish. I have not bought any salted fish here in US yet. I love your lemon touch to the vege.
Yea it is always cheaper to cook at home than eating outside. I miss salted fish. Too bad I can’t cook it here because of the smell :(
The “smell” is good! lol
stir fry veggies is always one of my simple favorite. i love salted fish!
your posters have some excellent suggestions on how to reduce splatter during stir-fry… dry the vegies! or for that matter, keep all and everything that is to be stir fried as dry as you can (and that includes using kitchen towels to blot dry the soaked salted fish). Soggy ingredients not only lead to splattering or spitting, but also to a drastic lowering of the temperature in the wok, resulting in ingredients being boiled rather than fried, and consequently resulting in less ‘wok hei’. Stir frying to achieve ‘wok hei’ requires that the temperature be maintained as high as possible throughout the cooking process. Anyway, if you dont care for ‘wok hei’, you should still try and dry the ingredients to avoid screams when you cook, by methods already suggested by previous posters:
1. wash vegies whole and ‘hang’ them or put into colander to drip dry (i read somewhere that this also keeps more nutrients in, compared to chopping and then washing the vegies). This is the ‘cheapest’ and most effective method, but requires advance prep. Perhaps you could try washing all your vegies whole in the morning, put them out to dry, and then cook them in the evening for dinner:-)).
2. and or use kitchen towels to dry them.
3. or use a salad dryer. I find that this is the fastest way to dry vegies. However, not all salad dryers are the same, as i found out from bitter experience and having to throw out the first 3 that i bought. If you google for ‘salad dryer reviews’ , you would probably find that the top brands are oxo and zyliss, and they are NOT cheap, but worthwhile investment if you stir fry lots of vegies and/or serve salads (there is nothing worse than water logged salads).
have fun
Thanks so much for your detailed advice… really appreciate it! I must really really plan and prepare in advance before stir frying veggies next time, everyone is telling me to do so! Also I have been thinking of buying a salad spinner. Was initially considering Ikea’s but I’ll check out oxo and zyliss too ^^ Thanks again! :)
Ahh – I am always getting splattered as well. Thanks for the tips on how to lessen that splatter. Your vegetables look so fresh… and healthy.
That looks beautiful, fresh, and vibrant! :) I don’t recognize the plate in this photo….is it new? So cute! :)
yes it is new! you are so sharp ;) It looks very Asian doesn’t it hehe
Beautiful stir-fried dish, Wiffy! And the use of slices of lemon as garnish is a great idea!