I’m very picky about vegetable stems. I don’t like those that are limpy and fibrous like rope. I love those that are crunchy. Here’s an example of something I had at one of the floating restaurants are Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

On the table, we have Pla kang salad, vegetable salad, deep fried vermicelli and Leo Beer. Pla kang is a freshwater fish which my friend Pairach claims to be the tastiest freshwater fish Thailand. The vegetable salad is made from boiled kailan stems. The usual Thai dressing included lime juice, palm sugar and nam pla.

I chanced upon some nice kai lan stems at Sheng Siong the other day and decided to try making this crunchy affair at home. The Thai styled salad wasn’t too bad, but I’ve decided to do it Chinese style this time.

Kai Lan stems shaved and sliced.

Into the pot goes some olive oil, minced garlic, shrimp meat.

Oyster sauce added, kai lan stems put it, stir and fry for a few minutes under high heat, a dash of hua diao wine, some water and we’re done.

Sweet and crunchy. You can even eat it on its own. Or with some beer, of course.

© Chan Joon Yee