Teczcape-An Escape to Food

These soft-stemmed vine-type sweet pea greens with large tender leaves (of matured pea plants) 大豆苗/豆叶 are unlike the delicate pea-shoots (of young pea plants) 豆苗. Both the pea greens and pea shoots have a strong grassy-taste compared to the peas themselves; but the matured pea greens of the pea plants are sturdier, thus more fibrous and tough, compared to the young pea shoots.


Most commonly, the Asian way of cooking pea greens is stir-frying; and without fail turns out amazingly delicious, just like pea shoots in a stir-fry.

This is not your authentic pesto, as any Italians would say. However, the modern cook at home looks for ways to improvise and utilize ingredients that sometimes just appear at the right place at the...errrr...not-so-right time


With some pea shoots remaining in the fridge and some carrot tops leaves from the organic bunch carrots, this pea shoots-carrot greens pesto was created, with silvered blanched almonds as the nut choice.

Short screwy shell pasta such as Fusili is best for pesto if you ask me. With longer strands Capellini (Angel Hair) or Spaghetti, the strands of pasta do not carry the sauce very well, especially when the pesto is on the thick, chunky side.


For the pesto, it was a combination of peashoots, carrot-tops leaves, silvered blanched almonds, garlic and extra virgin olive oil.

Leftover tip: This pesto is chock-full of benefits and utilizes fully the leftover carrot-tops leaves, especially when carrot-tops leaves are high in nutritional value - high in potassium, and chlorophyll. In spring and summer, carrots grow a rosette of leaves, so if you were to buy bunch carrots from the farmer's market or grocery stores, and faced with a huge bunch of carrot leaves or greens, don't discard the leaves - make pesto!

How do you make use of carrot-top leaves?

The asparagus and pea shoots (or pea sprouts) do not have any relationship here. They were just sauteed the same way (with onions, garlic, and some chili paste) one after another in the pan, then sharing the same real estate on this plate.

It does smell and taste like spring.


One fine quick lunch, I decided to make peanut butter dressing (1tbsp peanut butter and 1/2 tsp sesame oil) for some cooked noodles.

Pea shoots or pea sprouts 豆苗 (Dou Miao) are so much easier to clean - just one rinse and be ready to use; compared to Bok Choy or Bok Choy Sum that sometimes need two-three rinses in water to rid the grits and fine soil sediments. They are as easy to clean as organic baby spinach or mung bean sprouts, and as a result, shortens kitchen preparation time.


Stir-frying pea sprouts is very common in Chinese cooking, likewise what is featured today. A simple Stir-Fry Pea Sprouts 清炒豆苗 with garlic, flavored with some chicken stock, and splash of cooking wine towards end of cooking and gojiberries for hint of sweet notes.

The sun has not been co-operating and I have been waking up to foggy days. That is not motivating especially for a food blogger who needs natural daylight to help her with her photos. Hmmm...I should not be starting off the new year with complaints. Sorry.

Instead, I should begin with the big bag of pea sprouts/pea shoots - 豆苗 (Dou Miao in Mandarin) I recently bought from Japanese supermarket - Mitsuwa Marketplace. The pea sprouts just look so fresh, clean, and tender, I could not resist. An intended lunch trip to savor Santouka ramen @ Mitsuwa, turn to a grocery shopping trip, yet again. So predictable!


Pea Shoots/Pea Sprouts (the leaves of the traditional garden pea plant) is a nutrition powerhouse - a rich source of Vitamin A, C and Folic Acid (Source: Peashoots.com). They are usually used in salads or as garnish; and a common practice to stir-fry them in Chinese cooking.

Pea Shoots when fibrous can be hard to chew and digest. Imagine biting/chew grass. But these pea shoots in my recent purchase is definitely not. With no intention to cook them for too long (and lose the precious vitamins), I added them after cooking (turning off the heat) chicken soup and allow the heat to wilt and lightly cook the shoots. Yes, you do get the chlorophyll after-taste (quite typical in sprouted beans/peas) in this Pea Sprouts and Gojiberries Chicken Soup -豆苗枸杞子鸡汤 but that is not too over-powering.

Oyster sauce or any other common stir-frying sauce will not do the magic, especially when stir-frying these sweet pea shoots (豆苗, Dou Miao). If you like garlic, add them. But that ingredient (or seasoning) that makes your home stir-fry sweet pea shoots taste "restaurant-style" is Chinese Cooking (Huadiao/Shaoxing) Wine! Yes yes! Is that considered a secret?


I'm sharing some tips and secrets of making the perfect pea shoots stir-fry, over at Weekend Herb Blogging and this week, we have our host, Susan at The Well-Seasoned Cook.

Of course, we need: Oil. High Heat. Chinese Cooking Wine.

Further, to ensure the sweet pea shoots not too fibrous when cooked:

(1) No Overcooking.

(2) Do not store the shoots in the refrigerator for too long. Use it almost immediately (perhaps less than 3 days) after purchase . When stored for too long, sweet pea shoots lose the tender firm (crisp) texture. It gets too fibrous - hard to chew after they are cooked.

(3) Also, pluck away those "curly shoots"

Share your tips and secrets with us.


Tag: pea shoots, vegetables, stir fry

If Han Christian Andersen's fairy tale was brought to reality, the pea at the bottom of twenty mattresses or forty layered sheets would have sprouted!

豆苗 (dou miao) are distinguished by "large'' and "small''. 大豆苗 (Da dou miao), the large shoots, come from the mature pea plant. These are sometimes labeled as pea leaves in supermarket. The other version is the small sprouts- pea sprouts (below).

There's ginger in this stir-fry, adds zest, but not spicy. Spicy stir-fry leafy greens vs non-leafy greens; or non-spicy stir-fry non-greens vs greens, which is your preferred ? I love all of them!


Stir fry pea sprouts with garlic& ginger (serves 2)
Ingredients:
-1/2lb pea sprouts
-oil for frying
-1/2 tsp crushed garlic
-1tsp crushed ginger

Method:
1.Heat frying pan with oil, at medium heat
2.Add in garlic and ginger and fry for 1min
3.Add in the pea sprouts and fry quickly for 2-4min. If dry, add some water during frying
4.Serve up, and eat !

Tag: stir fry, pea sprouts, vegetables