Two green jewels for autumn

In the chilly days of autumn, two vegetables are at their prime --- the asparagus and the Chinese broccoli. I love them in the fullness of their green. I love them even more when they come fresh out of the pan, glistening like emeralds. These two vegetables are particularly good for stir-frying. They cook fast in very little oil. They do not turn soggy when done.

There was once, a friend came with me to shop in an international market. When I introduced her to the Chinese broccoli, she was puzzled to see how little bunch of flowers it produced on the stalk. Unlike the American broccoli which people eat only its flowers, the worth of a Chinese broccoli is in its stem and leaves. The two are very different in their texture and response to cooking. In fact, I even doubt if the two are indeed related. To fry Chinese broccoli well, it is important to cut the stem into thin slices. The stem needed to be fried separately from the leaves, which cook much faster. The leaves cook faster when cut into medium sized pieces, so that after they shrink, they are about the same size as the stem slices. This vegetable fries well with garlic.

The asparagus is another fine jewel of autumn. Frying heightens its flavor. I like it fried with mushroom in a spiced oil. To fry asparagus with mushroom, the mushroom must be fried first since it takes longer.
Now asparagus and mushroom have very different shapes. So I slice up the mushroom and cut the asparagus into shorter sticks. To make the frying effective, the pan must have enough room for both to lie flat on the pan surface. This really means that your frying pan can only cook as much as its bottom can handle. So the pan does not cook as much as it looks! But why does it have to look so big? That's so that you can whack your spatula around without sending the vegetables off to outer space. Asparagus is especially prone to flying around. Keep your stirring under restraint. This is a quick fry. You can tell the asparagus is done when its green freshens up.