Cabbage stir fry

Some of the best dishes are really made from the simplest of ingredients and the more complicated the more prone a dish is to go wrong and you'd never figure out what happened. My kids want to eat more vegetables so here's a quick simple stir fry that highlights the sweetness of cabbage but still allows the earthy flavors and goodness to come out. Here's all you need.

1 med or 1/2 large cabbage head
1 med white onion
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp sugar
pinch of Pepper
1/2 tsp Cornstarch dispersed in 1 tbsp of water
Oil for sauteeing

Start by preparing all your ingredients cut to size. dice the onion, cut the cabbage by splitting in two, removing the tough core and cutting into rough 1 inch squares. They dont have to be perfect, in fact sometimes I slice them like coleslaw. Start heating your pan, put about a tbsp of oil then add the onions, as they become translucent add the cabbage. Toss several times and when most of the cabbage leaves have some oil onto them, add about 1/2 cup water and cover for 1.5 minutes.

When you lift the cover the cabbage should have started taking on a slightly deeper color. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and sugar and saute/toss the mixture in the pan. after 30 sec more stir the slurry of cornstarch and water then add to the cooking cabbage. Toss and saute in the pan until you see the sticky sauce you've created coating all the cabbage. Turn into a suitable size pan and serve.

See, thats it simple and healthy!

Pinatisan

Some of the best foods I've tried were made from just a few ingredients.

This has got to be one of them. When we were living in the big house, we had a whole family providing us with home services, from kitchen, laundry, garden and cleaning service throughout the house. Fe was married to Pedro and they had 3 children. Two cousins lived with them providing additional help.

One of the simple dishes she would whip up could be prepared in 20 mins flat. This is my version using less fatty portion of pork.

I prefer the Butterfly cut or Pork slices they offer in Rustan's. Cut diagonally to produce a thin fillet, it cooks quickly and you don't lose much bulk to cooking plus it's not too fatty a portion.

250 gms. Pork cutlet sliced diagonally to come up with a small fillet about the size of sliced radish. you want 1/2 hte number of fillets as slices of radish.
1 whole local radish, peeled and sliced like coins
1 small onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
1 medium local tomato sliced
1 tbsp. patis
water to simmer in

Start with sauteeing the onions, garlic and tomato over a low flame in a medium fry pan. You just want to allow the ginisa to wilt and turn translucent.

As it starts turning lightly orange because of the tomato breaking down, add 1/2 cup of water and allow to boil.

With your spoon or spatula press down on the tomatoes to crush them slightly

Now add your radish slices distributing them evenly in the pan, follow this with the pork slices evenly as well, several grinds of a pepper mill and allow to boil. Now add your tablespoon of Patis and stir gently.

Press down on the tomatoes again to squeeze the color out of them then lower the flame. As the mixture starts to simmer down, cover and allow to simmer over a low flame for 10 mins. Check that the tomatoes are crushed and the liquid has turned slightly orange.

You want the liquid to reduce to a bit more watery consistency - almost like a soup that's ever so slightly thick.

Turn into a plate that can hold the liquid and serve hot.

Lots of hot white rice goes very well with this.

Maybe even a cold Sauvignon Blanc, in its absence, beer will do