Stir-fried snow pea shoots

Instructions

1. Make sure everything is ready before you start (see Note). Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over high heat until smoking. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 10 seconds, then immediately add the snow pea shoots and toss for 20 seconds, moving the shoots around the pan to ensure the garlic doesn’t burn.
2. Add the sugar, chicken stock powder and salt and stir-fry for 1 minute or until the snow pea shoots just wilt. Drizzle with the sesame oil, toss to combine and serve immediately.

• This is one of my favourite dish at yum cha. I could honestly eat it with nothing more than rice and be satisfied! Recreating this restaurant dish at home without a wok burner isn’t easy, but this recipe comes pretty close. The trick is to cook the vegetables in small batches, in addition to using a heavy-based pan that can retain a high heat.
• As with nearly all fried vegetable dishes, you want to avoid overcrowding the pan as this boils your veggies to death; instead, you want to sear the vegetables by ensuring the pan never drops below 150°C. Don’t be tempted to multiply the ingredients and add them all to the pan at once – it won’t turn out the same. The cooking time is less than 2 minutes, so ensure you have everything ready and within reach when you fire up the stove-top.
• I cook with wooden chopsticks because I find it easier to toss the vegetables and they don’t harm the pan; otherwise, I use non-metal tongs.