Stir-fried Chayote Greens With Brown Mushrooms In Miso

I was asked by my neighbour, if I seen or heard this 'Loong Sou Choy' aka 'Dragon Beard' . Ok, I know my Chinese dialects are rusty (I mean since Cantonese it's not my mother tongue) here but I knew what she's referring too. I told her that I bought some ( 2 bundles of 250 g each for less than 0.50 € !) because the price was very, very cheap at the local Tesco supermarket here and my family loves this vegetable. She's not sure of this plant that's why she didn't buy any when she saw at the fresh market. As I explained more to her about this 'Loong Sou Choy', she exclaimed that she bought 2 large 'Buddha's Palms' for soup (Chayote or as I called it 'Boxing Glove') and didn't know that these 2 vegetables are the same! Now, why farmers have to create confusion to end users like us? Buddha's Palm and Dragon's Beard??? Buddha's Palm hold by Dragon's Beard? Hmmm... I'm getting confused here as well :-D

Oh well... I have a 2/3 box of miso left and a box of nice Swiss Brown Mushrooms. I need to clear some space for tomorrow's grocery shopping and with heavy rain and storms predicted for next few days, I better stock up my fridge and pantry as well. Now, about this Miso paste, first time I tasted this product, it reminded me of Tau Cheo or Salted/Fermented/Preserved Soyabeans. This Salted Soyabean product is available in 3 versions - whole beans, coarsely chopped beans and finely chopped beans. I love the addition of Salted Soyabean paste in Ayam Pongteh - without it you will face the wrath of a Peranakan (Baba & Nyonya)!!! Without this magic paste, it's not Ayam Pongteh! :-D

With what I have, this is what came out from the pan... It sounded weird but it turned out very delicious though. There's no addition of salt or stock in this dish... :-) The Miso provides all that!

Stir-fried Chayote Greens With Brown Mushrooms in Miso

Serves 2-3

2oo g Chayote Greens/Shoots - wash & use only tender parts

1 small box Swiss Brown Mushrooms (or any mushrooms about 150 g)

2-3 cloves Garlic - minced

1 medium Carrot

1 Tbl Miso paste

Cooking oil

1/2 cup sake

1 cup water

Method:

1. Wash and trim off any hard stems and spoilt leaves. Trim short the tendrils if it's too long :-D Separate the leaves and tender stems and tendrils.Drain and set aside.

2. Clean the mushrooms and remove any grits. Slice into thin pieces or you can quartered them.

3. Wash and julienne the carrot into thin strips. Set aside.

4. Mix the miso with sake until smooth paste (Miso comes in thick paste so, you need to dilute it before usage.)

5. In a deep pan/ wok, add some cooking oil. When the pan is very hot, add in the minced garlic and stir until fragrant (but not burnt!). Add in the julienned carrot. Give a quick mix.

6. Add in the mushrooms; Mix well until slightly wilted.

7. Add in the stems and tendrils; stir quickly as we want the stems to cook evenly first. Then add in the tender leaves and young shoots. Mix throughly.

8. Pour in the water; This will reduce a bit the heat. Now, add in the miso and sake mixture. Give a quick stir because we don't want to destroy the goodness of miso. Stir the vegetables throughly. You can add extra water if you want extra gravy/sauce.

9. Dish out and serve as side dish or steamed hot rice.

Note: You can adjust the quantity of miso by add in half of the mixture first because miso is salty. Then you add in more if you like. For me, the amount I added into the sake mixture was enough for that quantity of vegetable and 1 cup of water used.

Enjoy!!!