Eat Your Greens!

I personally love stir-fried vegetables, Chinese style. The aroma of freshly cooked vegetables, particularly that of green beans, cabbage, and carrots drives up my appetite. It brings back memories of one vacation I had on the high plains of Malaysia's central mountain range, Cameron Highlands where my father rented a vacation house, and we got to cook freshly bought vegetables from the local farmer's market.

I think I can officially attribute my love of greens to my grandmother's incessant nagging of,

"Eat your greens. You'll stay looking young that way."

I would dutifully eat my greens, even the bitter tasting ones, because looking old was something to be scared of back then. My father doesn't look his age, and neither does my mother, and for that matter neither did my grandmother. I feared not looking my age (the opposite way) since almost everyone in my family seem to have this youthful look, so I gobbled up my greens. I grew to love them. In fact, I don't remember hating them at all. Now, I deem any meal that doesn't have greens as lacking something crucial.

Unfortunately though, my kids, despite eating their greens with gusto in their earlier years, are now rather fussy about their greens, well, except for my eight year old son, who seems to maybe have inherited my love for greens. So, in an attempt to give a twist to my usual cabbage and carrot stir-fry, I decided to experiment.

Thus was born my Chips in Stir Fry...

2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/5 of a yellow onion, minced
1/5 of a cabbage, sliced thinly
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 potato, peeled, and sliced very thinly (imagine making potato chips)
2 tbs oil
salt
pepper


1. In a frying pan, heat the oil and fry the potato slices till golden on both sides
2. Drain the fried potato chips on a plate lined with paper towel
3. In the same oil, quickly throw in the minced onion and garlic and saute them till lihgtly browned and fragrant
4. Toss in the carrot slices and stir-fry till slightly soft, or crunchy, depending on your preference. (if the carrots begin to stick and the oil evaporates, add a little water)
5. Throw in the cabbage and stir
6. Toss in the potato chips and stir till combined
7. Salt and pepper it to taste
8. Take the pan off the heat when the cabbage glistens and looks bright green
(I like my cabbages slightly undercooked for the crunchy texture)\

Cook's Notes:

• I like my greens slightly undercooked. If you like yours thoroughly cooked, don't take them off the heat until they're thoroughly cooked. Duhh...





• You can double, triple the recipe as you see fit.





• We usually eat our veggies with cooked white rice and a meat/chicken/seafood dish - one of our staple lunch and dinner. If you're not Malaysian, you can try eating this with taco shells or wrapped in tortilla, or just by itself!





• For a healthier version, you can brush the potato slices with oil and bake them until they brown, and then toss them in with the stir fried veggies.

Is this a hit with the kids? Yeah, pretty much, though some of them still pick through the whole medley for just the potato chips. Maybe I need to blend all these veggies and sneak it in their drinks.