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WHAT'S NEW
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Andrew's ingredient of the month -- Gailan
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If you like broccoli and, especially rapini, Chinese broccoli or gailan is
the vegetable for you.
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By Andrew Chase, Homemakers Magazine Food editor
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Thai-style gailan
Gailan is also one of the most popular vegetables in Thai cooking. It is most usually cut into pieces and stir-fried with lots of garlic, chillies and salt-fish.
Thai cooks don't use the mild salt fish (cod, haddock or Pollack)that we are accustomed to in Canada, but the half-fermented and highly aromatic (some would say stinky) salted Pacific kingfish or mackerel.
It might be an acquired taste, but once you have acquired it, it is impossible to shake off. This has become one of my all-time favourite vegetable dishes and is a standby in my household to serve with plenty of steamed rice.
Chinese-style gailan
In parts of China, it is popular to season gailan with bean sauces and the like. Blanched or stir-fried gailan also often surrounds or acts as the green base for braised dishes. The vegetable's full flavour and attractive dark emerald green colour when cooked make it extremely versatile in the kitchen.
Gailan is also good for you. It is loaded with vitamins A and C and is a good source of fibre. It also is a good source of vitamins B6, E and K, folate, magnesium, potassium and calcium, among other minerals.
You can easily expand your vegetable repertoire by visiting a Chinese market. Chinese cooks customarily include green vegetables in their meals and I'd say they enjoy the largest variety of vegetables in world cuisine. Most vegetables are easy to cook and are good for you. So just plunge in and try them! And if you're worried about how to cook something, just ask; most vendors are more than happy to share their enthusiasm for food and cooking.
Check out Andrew's previous ingredient of the month: Artichokes
Andrew Chase is Homemakers Magazine's food editor, the author of The Asian Bistro Cookbook (Robert Rose, 1997), The Blender Bible (Robert Rose, 2005) and co-author of 400 Blender Cocktails: Sensational Alcoholic And Non-alcoholic Cocktail Recipes (Robert Rose, 2006). Subscribe to Homemakers Magazine and don't miss any of Andrew's recipes and menus.
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