Asparagus, in a stir-fry manner!

When I was younger, whenever there's bits of asparagus in those fancy sit-down Chinese dinners, my mother always tell me to 'have more' because it is an 'expensive' vegetable. In some sense, I supposed it is quite expensive back home because it cannot be planted in our tropical climate. Recently, I found out that asparagus is a spring vegetable and usually it would be cheaper to buy at that time. We managed to catch the asparagus 'boom' at our local supermarket last week and thought... try cooking it ala Chinese style!

First, chop up some garlic and the asparagus. Cut off about 1 inch off the bottom of the asparagus and cut them into smaller sections. 

When the preparation is done, stir fry the garlic with some cooking oil in a pan. Once the garlic is fragrant, pour in the asparagus. Season the asparagus with some cooking wine, about quarter to half a cap. Give it a quick fry and then pour in a little bit of water to soften the veggies. Let it simmer for about 1 minute (or 2, depending on the volume and size of the asparagus) and season it with some oyster sauce. Continue frying until the water has been completely evaporated. If you prefer some sauce, fry the veggies until it has become a darker green and it is ready to serve!

The asparagus was crunchy and it has a refreshing feel when you chew the stems. One thing to note is to choose thinner stems instead of the fat ones. The fatter stems tend to be more fibrous and one needs to chew little longer to soften it. Other than that, I really like it! Yum yums!

Another style that I tried today was I replaced the cooking wine with fish sauce instead. After adding the oyster sauce, give a good shake or drizzle of the fish sauce. It gives out a different taste than the cooking wine... simply delicious and both styles compliment very well with rice too!

TheLoyalFan says: 'I love it cooked this way, Ching style, pure & infused with garlic. Super good with rice!'

Yup, indeed. Somehow the rice in my plate disappeared really fast... I wish there were more rice though : P