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!!!

Stir-fried Chayote Leaves With Prawns in Prawn Stock

First time I saw this plant years ago, I don't even know what's the name. There's no indication on the price label either. I only knew it's definitely edible and it's organic because it came from a reputable organic food supplier! Price? Real cheap... a bunch serves 2-4 persons. One day, I saw a staff of the organic farm arranging the shelves. I 'pounced' on her... well, not really but I did interrupted her work and asked her what's the name of the vegetable I'm holding in my hand. She asked me to wait so she could check with the staff of the supermarket. Huh? Gasped! "Excuse me??? Aren't you supposed to be a staff of the organic farm?" I asked. " Yes... but my job is only to arrange the produce on the shelves when the items reached the supermarkets. I don't know what's the name of this vegetable but the supermarket staff said it's from a pumpkin of some sort..." she replied.

Edible shoots and leaves of Chayote (Sechium Edule). Codename: Vegetable 007 aka Dragon's Beard aka Dragon's Whiskers.

Blunder!!! Sometimes, I don't know why there's no proper labeling of produce at supermarkets. Instead of printing the labels as 'Japanese Vegetables' or 'Vegetables 007', why not their correct name? I'm sure there are item descriptions in the invoices... Anyway, with a hunch I asked again, "Is this vegetable called Dragon's Beard ?" With her confused look, " I think so." Alright, to avoid more confusions, I thanked her and grabbed 2 packs of my 'vegetable 007'. I pitied her, really. How could a company being so ignorant of informing their staff their products? Furthermore, this vegetable is not 'Japanese Vegetables' but originates from South America! At least get the name right.

Close up of Chayote Leaves: Tight tendrils and spear-like leaves.

All that aside... this vegetable I'm so obsessed about is none other than edible leaves of Chayote (Cha-yo-tay). Chayote is known as Buddha's Hand Gourd' and the leaves are called 'Dragon's Beard or Whiskers' by Mandarin speakers. It sounds so fancy, exotic but with all the tendrils and spear-like leaves (after comparing pictures of Dragons of all sorts) it doesn't look any resemblance to any parts of dragon whewww!!! I like the look of the Chayote fruit though. Sometimes, it looks like boxing glove, a punched mouth of a puppet or a mouth without a denture...LOL! There are many ways of cooking the Chayote and its leaves.

Normally, I would stir-fry the fruit/gourd with dried shrimps, eggs and transparent noodles (cellophane noodles/ glass noodles/ mung bean threads)... just like hairy gourd (Fuzzy gourd/Mo Kwa). It's delicious in soups and desserts as well. As for the leaves, I preferred to stir-fry it with pounded chilli paste or sambal belacan with dried shrimps or fresh prawns. Sometimes, I would add fresh coconut milk to the chilli mix like Masak Lemak... :-D But today, I have to skip that idea because my guest is enemy to chillies! So, I just stir-fry the leaves with garlic, fresh prawns and some prawn stock which I made from prawn heads and shells I reserved from previous recipe.

Stir-fry Chayote Leaves with Prawns in Prawn Stock

2 packs of Chayote Leaves (about 300 g)

3 cloves garlic - minced

1/2 pc Carrot- slice thinly

100 g Fresh Prawns - peeled and deveined

300 ml Prawn Stock (you can substitute with chicken stock)

Shaoxing Cooking Wine

Some Kuzu starch/ Cornstarch mixed with a some water

Cooking oil

Method:

1. Wash and trim Chayote Leaves an discard hard stems. Trim the tendrils shorter if it's too long. We don't want to get choke here...:-D.

2. In a hot wok/pan, heat some oil and fry the garlic until fragrant.

3. Add in the prawns. Stir a bit until they turn slightly pink and cook evenly.

4. Add in the Chayote leaves.

5. Pour in the stock and stir evenly.

6. Cook until the vegetables are tender to your liking.

7. Add few dash of Shaoxing Wine.

8. Just before serving, pour in the starch mixture. Give a good stir until the gravy/sauce thickens to your preferred consistency.

9. Dish out and serve hot with rice. You may sprinkle some shallot crisps if you like.

Note: You can omit the starch mixture if you don't like thick gravy. It tastes just as great in plain. I preferred to use kuzu as thickener than cornstarch because when the dish is cold, the gravy doesn't turned watery. Also, it has no perceptible taste compared to Cornstarch.

Enjoy!