Article: Mushroom, Pak Choi and Wild Garlic Stir-Fry. (Published in The Metro)
Pick some wild garlic before the season ends and make this tasty BBQ veggie stir fry.
Sebby says: ‘Charring the vegetables over the barbecue before cooking adds an unexpected depth of flavour to the broth.
‘I’ve personally served it as a side at numerous pop-ups and did not realise how good it was until I got my customer’s feedback; many people say it’s their favourite dish.
‘You can use any variety of vegetables to suit your personal tastes, so don’t limit yourselves to just the below list. I love it with cabbage or kale and even cucumber’
Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (groundnut oil is also good)
2 head pak choi, washed and chopped into 3cm pieces
20g, green beans, topped and tailed and cut into thirds
6 asparagus spears, tough ends removed, sliced in half lengthways
A handful of wild garlic, roughly chopped
100ml hot vegetable stock
1 tablespoon light soy sauce (seaweed sauce if gluten free)
¼ teaspoon white peppercorns, toasted and ground to a powder
1 teaspoon caster sugar
For the paste:
2 green bird’s-eye chillies
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon krachai wild ginger, peeled and roughly chopped (use regular ginger if you can’t source it)
½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
Method
Light the barbecue. If you have the option available, use wood as ideally you want as much smoky flavour as possible to transfer onto the vegetables. Use 1 tablespoon of the oil to lightly coat all the vegetables.
When the embers are glowing red, place the vegetables over the heat and turn often until all sides are lightly charred. There is no need to cook the vegetables through as this process is for imparting the smoky flavour, not actually cooking the vegetables.
Next, make the paste. Pound the chillies, garlic and krachai to make a coarse paste, using the sea salt as an abrasive. Heat the remaining oil in a large wok, then add the paste and fry until it begins to turn golden brown, stirring constantly to ensure even cooking. Add the charred vegetables to the wok and toss for about 1 minute on a high heat to ensure that all vegetables are cooked through and softened, but try to leave a little bite.
Add the stock, soy sauce, wild garlic, peppercorns & sugar. Toss through the stir-fry; it should all fuse together to create a delicious, light, smoky broth. Serve the stir-fry immediately. Garnish with crispy garlic and shallots if you have them, for added texture, if you have any left over. Great served as a side or with steamed jasmine rice as a main.
Head chef & founder of Farang London restaurant. Cookbook author of ‘Cook Thai’ & ‘Thai in 7’. Chief curry paste basher and co-founder of Payst London.