Cooking with Steven Chinese cooking for college students

Broth-Cooked Napa Cabbage and Water Spinach (season 1, episode 3)

For broth-cooked napa cabbage
[Watch the episode]
Ingredients

Chicken broth
Napa cabbage
Oyster sauce
Dried scallops
Garlic
Shiitake mushroom

Cost: <$5

Instructions

Pre-cooking:

1. Soak dried scallops over night in cold water (just enough to cover it; not too much water or you're losing all the flavor). Squeeze scallops to remove excess water before use for dish.
2. Soak dried shiitake mushroom, for an hour or two in cold water (or 20 mins in hot water, or one-and-a-half minute in cold water put into the microwave).

Cooking:

1. Preheat wok on high, remove leaves from cabbage, rough rinse (you can choose to cut the cabbage into smaller pieces, depending on how you would want to present them).
2. Add garlic to the wok, when it is turns golden, add cabbage pieces, give them a rough stir. (I added the leaves all in the same direction, and stirred them without disturbing that arrangement; purpose is for ease of removal and beauty in presentation afterwards.)
3. Pour in chicken broth, add rehydrated scallops and shiitake mushrooms.
4. When broth is boiling, cover, and let simmer (turn flame from high to low or medium low), from anywhere between 10-30 minutes, depending on how soft you want your cabbage.
5. Serve with some broth in a deep enough dish, finish with oyster sauce laced lightly on the surface of the vegetable. The dried scallops and mushrooms are meant to be eaten.

Note: if you want to make it a standalone dish, add a piece of chicken thigh, or strips of chicken breast thinly-sliced on top of the cabbage just before you cover it to steam. The meat depending on type and size takes anywhere between 10 to 25 minutes to cook.

For water spinach with fermented soy bean sauce
[Watch the episode]
Ingredients

Morning glory (water spinach)
Chinese fermented soybeans (In my sauce, I used those that come in little cubes in a glass bottle. In Cantonese, say to the storekeeper: FOO--YU'I [drag out that "e" sound]; in Mandarin, FOO-RUUH)
Garlic

Cost: <$4

Instructions

1. Soak the vegetables for about 10 minutes in water (the vegetables, if from Asia, are bound to contain pesticides. I like to play it safe.)
2. Cut into 3-4 inch segments, keeping the stem and leaves separate because the stems require about 1 minute longer to cook.
3. In a preheated wok, add garlic, when golden, add stem and stir a little.
4. In a bowl, add 2 cubes (or to taste when you're used to it) of ferment soybean. Add water and mix to create a watery sauce.
5. When the stems are cooked (look for it turning into a luminous green), add the leaves, give it a quick stir (10-15 seconds), then add in the bean sauce. Cover and let steam for under 1 minute.
6. Serve. (salt only in absolutely necessary, the fermented bean is itself salty)