Cape Town - Slavery belongs in another time. America finally got around to scrapping it in 1863, when Abraham Lincoln ordered the emancipation of slaves in Confederate states. Hard to believe: 1863 is just the other year on the canvas of history. Just 150 years ago. That’s three Johnny Depp lives. He’s just turned 50, by the way (I know, I fell over too). On a backdrop of eternity, 150 years would disappear into a black hole sooner than you could say, “My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story.” (Depp said that.)
In our part of the world it happened decades earlier, which is perhaps surprising if seen against a background of more recent history. Still, emancipation is one thing. Having full and equal rights before the law is another, and both America and South Africa know all about keeping people suppressed despite having a degree of what passes as freedom.
All of which is merely a preamble to talking about woks. You didn’t see that coming. Confusing, I know. I try to stay in a constant state of confusion just because of the expression it leaves on my face. (Depp said that too.) And to keep my cooking interesting.
We need to be free in the kitchen. We should celebrate our individuality and not be embarrassed or ashamed of it. (Yes, Depp again.) Free ourselves from the business of being bound by recipes, feeling constrained by them. Free yourself up and think, okay, the recipe says this should be a red velvet cake but I’m going to make it green. (Depp didn’t say that.) Or the recipe requires vanilla but I’m going to use coffee. (Or that.) Or the recipe wants hoi sin sauce, galangal and sesame but I’m using mirin, ginger and lime. (Or that.)
The point at which a cook finds the courage to change a recipe is the point at which you’ve turned a corner, become a better chef, achieved something special for any cook: you trust yourself to create your own recipes.
With this comes another thing, that thing a purist despises and distrusts: you dare to do the unconventional, to fiddle with tradition. You’re liberated. And if you can do that with baking, that’s even more special, because that’s the arena of cooking that is the most structured. You can’t just fling in an extra egg and presume the cake will turn out right.
So, wok’s up. (He definitely didn’t say that, but probably wishes he had.) I was digesting the fact that Depp has managed five decades and is only a few years younger than me while I was sniffing around the kitchen to see what I could whip up for a quick wok meal. I wasn’t planning to use the obvious ingredients for a standard wok dish.
There was mirin, that Japanese fermented rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce, and a bottle of lime juice I’d bought at the grocer in Chinatown at Sable Square near Century City. There was peanut oil and, in the fridge, courgettes, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, and I’d bought deboned chicken fillets. I’d also acquired a pack of spinach, and I plucked one red chilli from the garden pot.
All of which I decided to use. Why not? (“Everything here is edible, even I’m edible. But that, dear children, is cannibalism, and is in fact frowned upon in most societies.” – JD.) So into the wok went a goodly splash of peanut oil. This should go in first – they say you should never heat a dry wok, just as you should never heat, or eat, your friends.
Gonzo wok fry
(Serves 4, plus the odd passing pirate)
Peanut oil
Mirin
Soy sauce
Lime juice
Sesame oil
(quantities of all five of these to your own taste)
4 or 5 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 punnet mushrooms
1 x 3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely sliced
6 or 7 courgettes, washed, dried and sliced into slim rounds
About 10 or 12 spinach leaves
Soba noodles (judge the quantity as you would how much pasta to make per serving – you can’t measure this)
1 or 2 chicken fillets per serving, depending on how many pirates are coming round
1 red chilli, finely chopped
Once heated, throw in some garlic sliced into thin flakes and spring onions sliced on the diagonal like they do in Asian restaurants. When softened but the spring onions are still bright green, remove and keep aside.
Throw in the ginger and toss it around for a couple of minutes, then add the courgettes, sliced, and stirfry until soft but not discoloured.
Add the mirin, soy, a little lime juice and a splash of sesame oil, toss for a minute, and set aside.
Add a little more peanut oil to the wok if necessary and when it’s hot, add the sliced mushrooms (any kind you like) and stir constantly until they’re nutty brown.
If they release their liquids, add more of the wet condiments to your taste, continue cooking until it’s reduced to something a little syrupy, and set aside.
Before cooking the spinach, cut the green away from the white stems, and discard the latter – they’re what give spinach a bitter taste. If a restaurant serves you spinach that includes the white, make a fuss. It means the chef should either be fired or shot. Unforgivable.
Shred the cleaned spinach and stirfry until wilted with the red chilli, finely chopped, and set aside. Now cook the chicken fillets, cut into thin strips, in batches.
Cook the soba noodles (from an Asian shop or your supermarket) by immersing in boiling water. Stir immediately to separate the noodles. Boil for 6 minutes. Rinse under cold running water and drain in a colander.
Toss the cooked and drained soba noodles in the wok, then add all the other ingredients, toss through using two wooden spoons, and serve. - Weekend Argus