The Chinese Quest Finding the best Chinese restaurants on Long Island and NYC
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I used to be a total carnivore. Growing up I preferred meat with my meat. Vegetables? Thanks, but no thanks. If the dog would turn up his nose at them under the table, why would I even want to try them? The continued to my taste in Chinese food. As a young lad, all I would eat was spareribs. Mind you I still love spareribs.
The vegetables I was served at other people’s house’s (my Grandmother finally gave up and never even tried to get me to eat them) were always mushy, yucky, bland, and ugh. Oh I would eat vegetables. But only if they were RAW!
And then, like a right of passage, my palate came of age, and I opened my mind to vegetables. Chinese vegetables. My life hasn’t been the same since. Grams, if you could see me now! I don’t know WHAT they do in Chinese restaurants, but their vegetables are off the hook. Ok, I do know what they do, but that takes away from the melodrama I was building, don’t you think?
Stir frying in a wok, or sautéing, maintains ALL the flavor. The vegetables come out crisp. Serve it up with some ginger, garlic, black beans, or whatever they dream up, and now you’ve got a healthy version of crack. I mean this stuff is addictive. AND it’s healthy! My goodness, I can’t get enough of Chinese vegetables.
Here are some of my favorites:
- Sugar Snap Peas – Crisp, Sweet. CANDY. These are totally dandy!
- Snow Peas – ridiculously priced in the super market, and now I know why.
- String Beans – Crispy. Cooked right, I don’t care what you serve them with.
- Green Beans – These might be the same as string beans. Anyone know?
- Baby Corn – cutest vegetable EVER! Do they grow them on bonsai farms?
- Broccoli – My first Chinese vegetable. I dared to venture in to the unknown with Beef & Broccoli.
Lotus Root – First time I recall having this vegetable was on our very first Quest, at The Orient in Bethpage, NY. I’ve been hooked every since.- Asparagus – Similar in texture to the bean dishes. If it’s got that snap, I’m gonna clap!
- Bok Choy – Incredible health benefits!
- Virtually any vegetable… They can do no wrong.
Did you get your vitamins today? These veggies are better than any vitamin in a bottle. Even Flintsone’s!
Humbly submitted for your consumption,
–Mee Magnum (“Chop! Chop!”)
I love vegetables and I agree with you that stir frying in the wok is a great way to cook vegetables.
Oh yes! Chinese is my favorite way of eating veggies. 😀
Chinese vegetables could turn me in to a Vegetarian. Umm, almost! 🙂
I love vegetables, and i know so many ways to cook them. The only thing is they take so much time. You have to clean them, and chop them and then cook them. When I have this kind of time, I like cooking them, but most of the time, on working days… eh….. 🙁
Save time, take out from your Chinese restaurant! In ten minutes, or less, you’ll have the world’s best vegetables!!
I, too, was a victim of over-cooked vegetables when I was a child. My grandmother came from that cook everything until it’s truly done, or overdone, era. I discovered stir-fry when I moved to California in my early 20’s, so I can totally appreciate your dislike for vegetables as a child. And stir-fry is wonderful, even when it isn’t in a Chinese dish. Thumbs up for those crisp veggies!
Thank you for understanding Mee! But now that I have discovered Chinese prepared vegetables, I feel that THIS is how vegetables should be introduced to kids… and perhaps they would love them, rather than having an aversion to vegetables.