Chinese Vegetables (Desi Chinese Style)
Chinese Vegetables (Desi Chinese Style)
Ingredients
Chicken & Shrimp:
- 1/2 lb. diced chicken breasts
- 1/2 lb. shrimp cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp ginger paste
- 1/2 tsp garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup oil
Vegetables:
- 1 onion, diced medium sized
- 1 cup cauliflower florets
- 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks medium sized
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 cup cabbage, cut into cubes and layers separated
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1/2 red pepper. cut into strips medium sized
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ginger paste
- 1/4 tsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1.5 cups boiling water
- 4 green chilies, slit
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp milk powder
Instructions
Chicken & Shrimp:
- Marinate chicken and shrimp with all the ingredients listed under "Chicken & Shrimp" except for oil.
- Heat oil and stir fry the chicken and shrimp for 2-3 minutes.
Vegetables:
- Add cubed onions and stir fry for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the rest of the vegetables, followed by all the ingredients listed under "Vegetables" except the last 4. Stir fry for 5 minutes.
- Add boiling water, cover, and simmer until the vegetables have softened. Add green chilies.
- Make a cornstarch slurry by mixing the cornstarch with a little bit of water in a cup. Pour it in and mix well.
- Finish by sprinkling in the milk powder and mixing again. Serve hot with fried rice or plain white rice.
Desi Chinese Style of Cooking
Before I talk about this Chinese Vegetables dish, let’s first ask: what is Desi Chinese cuisine? Also called Indo-Chinese cuisine, this is a popular fusion style of cooking that’s a cuisine all on its own. Originating from Chinese migrants in Kolkata, India, the flavors of Chinese cooking married the spice-rich palate of South Asian cooking to create the most phenomenal fusion!
About Chinese Vegetables
An even more specific regional variation of Desi Chinese in Bangladeshi Chinese. This Chinese Vegetables dish is drawn from my memories of my mom and aunts cooking it whenever they wanted to make vegetables a bit special. In Bangladesh, vegetables are most commonly cooked as a stir fry, which is called “bhaji”, using traditional South Asian spices such as turmeric and coriander powder. This dish, however, is void of all these typical spices. The end result is a light, pale, and soft vegetable dish that is still super flavorful.
The Steps, in a Nutshell
To make Chinese Vegetables, you start off as if you’re making a basic stir fry. Protein goes in first, followed by the vegetables and flavorings. But after a few minutes of stir frying, you add boiling water in which the vegetables simmer and cook. Then the sauce of the dish is thickened with cornstarch. You’ll notice in the recipe that I included milk powder to be mixed in at the end. This creates a delicious flavor that you simply cannot skip! I learned this trick from an aunt and have been happily using it ever since.
And Finally…
If you try this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating and comment below. And please share your recreations with me on Instagram!