Sichuan-style Chinese cabbage with prawns
“Chinese cabbage is versatile and delicious.”
- 1/4 Chinese cabbage
- 6 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
- 1-4 hot chillies
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp fresh ginger
- salt and pepper
- 16 peeled, large prawns
Some 20 years ago, I would occasionally visit a friend in Manly. Often, he and I had a bite to eat in a small, hole-in-the-wall Chinese cafe in an arcade just off The Corso. No matter what else we ordered, it would always take second place to our favourite dish of Chinese cabbage or, as the owner called it in Cantonese, wong nga pak.
Method
This is as close as I can get to that original dish without training with a Sichuan master.
Cut a quarter of a Chinese cabbage cross-wise at 2cm intervals. Wash the pieces well and dry them. Heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a wok until it begins to smoke. Add the cabbage, with 1 to 4 (depending on heat preference) sliced hot chillies, 4 cloves of crushed garlic and 2 teaspoons of minced fresh ginger. Keep stirring at high heat for a minute and then add a couple of good pinches of salt and pepper.
Stir-fry for a couple of minutes more, then add 6 tablespoons of water. Transfer from the wok to a warm serving plate.
Heat 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the wok and fry 16 peeled, large prawns with a minced clove of garlic.
Place on top of the cabbage and serve hot.
Makes enough for 4.
