I have been cooking for so long that what I thought is easy or obvious is the total opposite for my friend who has never cooked. For Tony, fixing cars is easy and obvious. The mechanic enjoys good food and loved my Romanesco (broccoli flavor, cauliflower texture, looks like fractal - the first picture on the left in the header image.) So much so he attempted banging out broccoli and cauliflower at home. A huge compliment to me since Tony swore he would never cook.

The food lover burned the veggies good. I am going to lay out the basics for beginners like my friend - you will conquer and have tasty veggie dishes at home!

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The Basics

  • If at all possible, source from farmer's market - produce has flavor and is healthily grown. Local farmers and their produce are half of my magic.
  • Next best option, organic veggies from grocery stores. Produce from industrial farming tastes all the same - synthetic. I went through food production history in the last part of my food video. 
  • Oil: I always mix if I have animal fat. For example, half olive oil (or other vegetable oil) and half animal fat (e.g. butter, duck fat, or lard) - healthy and tasty combo. 
  • Use medium heat (most of the time.) If I use high heat in the beginning, I usually lower it to medium after a few minutes.
  • Pan needs to be hot (but not burning!) before you add any veggies - you want to cook, not grease or blacken. Heat brings out the flavor.  
  • Whenever I say "mix" in the instructions, I usually mean mix and evenly spread the veggies.  
  • Water: only add 1-2 tablespoon when needed, more if cooking large quantity, but not a bucket - you want to lightly steam, not drown the veggies. 
  • Some vitamins are fat-soluble, some water-soluble. Using both oil and water helps release the nutrients. 
  • Veggies cook fast - do not leave them frying in the pan and walk away. 
  • Add salt last when everything is cooked.

Summary: Heat up pan, add oil, when hot, add veggies, mix and cook for a minute before adding water, cover, steam, sprinkle salt, mix, taste, add more salt if needed.     

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Chinese Cauliflower


​I cook Romanesco the same way I cook cauliflower because the texture/density are the same. I love the taste of Chinese cauliflower, it's sweeter than regular cauliflower. The head in the picture is ginormous! I only used about 1/3. 

Steps:

Cut the cauliflower to small pieces. Heat up 2-tablespoon of oil in pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add garlic, mix. When garlic smell fragrant, add the veggies, mix so most pieces have a touch of oil and cook for a minute. Add about 2-tablespoon water, cover and steam for about 5 minutes. The color of the cauliflower is a big more saturated when cooked. Sprinkle salt, mix and taste, add more salt if needed.   

Cauliflower is more dense than broccoli. The steam time is shorter for broccoli or asparagus, or leafy greens. To mix broccoli with cauliflower, add broccoli to the pan after the cauliflower has already been steamed for a couple minutes.

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Assorted Veggies


​I had mushrooms and sweet shishito peppers left from cooking other dishes, so I decided to make an assorted dish. Potatoes need to be cooked first before adding other veggies. I paired my stir fry with rice and barramundi for lunch. 

Ingredients: 4 celery sticks, 1 small potato, 1 small sweet potato, 2 small zucchini, 1 small lion's mane mushroom, 1 small black king mushroom (whole ones are shown in the header picture,) shishito peppers, garlic. 

Seasoning: Salt and pepper.

Steps:  

I sliced the potatoes to help it cook faster. Heat up about 2-tablespoon of oil over medium heat. When pan is hot, add potatoes, mix, evenly spread, cook for a minute, then add about 2-tablespoon of water, cover and cook for a few minutes. Mix in garlic and rest of the veggies, cook for a minute, then add another 2-tablespoon of water, cover and cook for a few minutes. See the pattern? Salt and pepper to taste.

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Kimchi Cucumbers


​My friends seem to think I am breaking the law when I cook cucumbers. But they totally approve the results. This dish is impossible to mess up, you just need kimchi, a bit of oil, and salt. You can also stir fry the Korean staple with pork belly or make fried rice with it.    
  
Steps:

​Heat up about a tablespoon of oil over medium heat. When pan is hot, add the sliced cucumbers, mix so the pieces have some oil, then add a bit of water (e.g. 1 tablespoon,) cover and let cook for a couple minutes. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper (optional) - not too much because kimchi is salty. Then mix in the fermented veggies, cover and cook for another minute.  

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Lime Corn


​This dish is inspired by Mindy! An amazing artist and a humble cook. After tasting this at her place, I had to make it at home when I saw the beautiful bicolor corn at the farmer's market.  

Ingredients: 5 ears of corn, 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2 limes, and 5 cloves of garlic

Seasoning: Salt, pepper, paprika

Steps:

Shave off the corn, chop the bell peppers, carrots, onion, and garlic. Quarter the limes. Heat up 2 tablespoon of oil over high heat (medium ok too.) Add onion and cook until slightly golden or when you can smell the flavor. Mix in corn, carrots, ~2 tablespoons of water, cover, lower to medium heat and let cook for 4-5 minutes. Then add the bell peppers, garlic, the seasoning, stir fry for a minute. Squeeze lime juice, mix well, cover and let cook for a couple more minutes.         

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Salad with Pine Nuts


When the heat is brutal, even I had to opt for cold food. This salad is another dish inspired by my New Zealand brother.

Ingredients: Lettuce, onion, cucumbers (the yellow spheres in the picture are apple cucumbers,) tomatoes, and pine nuts 

Dressing: Honey mustard

Steps:

Pine nuts prep: heat up the pan with a bit of olive oil, low heat toast the pine nuts until it turns golden. I used the remaining oil in the pan to fry the purple onion slices. Cut and toss together all the vegetables, mix in the pine nuts and purple onions. Serve with dressing.     

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​​Tofu and Assorted Mild Peppers


​Sauce: Add a couple splashes of soy sauce at the end if you want easy. Or try mixing together ~3 tablespoon soy sauce, ~1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 2 cloves chopped garlic, ~1 teaspoon honey and ~1 tablespoon warm water (warm to thin the honey first before adding to the sauce mix)

Steps:

Place 1-lb firm tofu block between towels and pressed down on it with something heavy. I used paper towel and a steam plate to drain the water. Squeezing out the water helps tofu absorb the sauce. Leave it for 30 minutes is okay, I let it sit for an hour. If you do longer, move it into the fridge.

I used 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon avocado oil to pan fry the tofu. Heat up oil before frying the little cubes. Medium-high heat.

​Add in peppers and sauce, mix, cover, lower heat, and let cook for 4-5 minutes (adjust time per veggies you use.) Remove lid, medium-high heat, do some final mixing, and cook for another minute. Done.
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​Amaranth or Chinese Spinach


Stir fry with oil and garlic over medium heat. Cover lid and let cook for a couple minutes. Water is complimentary from washing the veggie. Mix in a little bit of salt. Voila. I cook other spinach and most greens the same way. Easy and tasty.  

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Shishito Peppers and Zucchini


The red/orange shishito peppers I picked up were quite spicy. Stick to green ones if you prefer a mild taste. Here I cut one zucchini to long strips to match the pepper shape, but you can cut it however you like. Stir fry with oil and garlic over medium heat. Add a bit of water, cover with lid to steam for a few minutes, then mix in a splash of soy sauce, and cook for another minute. 

​​Tip from farmer:
Stir fry zucchini and onion with thyme

I added cipollini onions and mushrooms to the mix and cooked everything together as before. The only difference was that I seasoned it with salt instead of soy sauce. 

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Tomatoes, Onion and Eggs


Stir fry onion over medium-high heat with oil first until slightly golden, add tomatoes, cover lid and let cook until soft. Scramble the eggs and add a little bit of salt to the mix. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the vegetables and mix well. Pour the eggs over the pan and stir gently in pockets so the eggs fill the pan evenly. Lower heat, cover lid, let cook for a few minutes. Then divide the pancake with the spatula into pizza like slices, flip the slices and let cook the other side for 1-2 minutes.  

Alternative: green onions instead of onion.

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Yam Leaves

 
We only want the leaves, so discard the stems and ants. Stir fry with oil and garlic over medium heat. Cover lid and let cook for a couple minutes. I usually don't need to add any water because there is water from rinsing the leaves. Mix in a bit of salt. Done. 

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Tomato Parsley Garlic Sauce

A quick easy sauce to go with pasta or rice. 

Stir fry garlic and tomatoes with oil over medium heat and cover with lid to make some sauce first. Mix in parsley and sprinkle some salt. Done.

Want to be fancy? Add portobello mushroom, broccoli, and green onion. 

Cook garlic and tomatoes just as before, then mix in the additional chopped veggies, add a bit of water, cover and steam for a couple minutes. Add parsley, sprinkle some salt and cook for another minute. Free style how you want to eat it. Here I mixed cooked pasta with the beautiful sauce in the pan.