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Stir-fried Baby Kailan with Salted Fish
Recently, I am in love with stir frying vegetables because it is much cheaper to cook them at home. For example, the pack of baby kailan I used for this dish 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! In this recipe, salted fish flavours the baby kailan and depending on the salted fish you use, it is usually not necessary to season with salt or soy sauce.
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 (either air dry or spin dry) after rinsing to avoid splatters.
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.