Ready in under four minutes, this may well be the fastest and easiest Asian food you’ll ever make! Despite its simplicity, this street food dish of barely stir-fried morning glory in a spicy, garlicky, fermented soya bean sauce will also be one of the tastiest.
Rinse the pak boong, shake it to remove as much water as possible, and then break the whole lot - stalks an' all - into 5cm (2") lengths. (note 4)
Put the pak boong onto a plate or in bowl, and pile the vegan oyster sauce, light soy, Shaoxing, tao jiao, and palm sugar on top.
Smash or pound the garlic (I use a large kruk - a Lao pestle and mortar). (note 5)
Partially split the chillies lengthways, and bash once or twice to release their oils.
Place a wok on the hob, and turn the heat up to high. Once it starts to smoke, add the garlic and chillies, and stir-fry for 10 seconds. (note 6)
Add the pak boong and veggie stock, if using, and continue to stir-fry for another 60 seconds or so, making sure that the greenery is coated in the sauce.
Serve immediately with steamed jasmine rice or sticky rice.
If you don't have Chinese cooking wine, you can use a tablespoon of dry sherry. At a push, dry white wine would work, and if you absolutely don't have anything else, use a tablespoon of apple juice or cider.
If you don't have or can't get tao jiao (aka Tauco, Taucu, Taotjo, Tau chu), you can use either a tablespoon of doenjang, or one of miso instead.BTW, peach resin/gum is also called tao jiao (I know not why)... don't use that!
The traditional way to do this is to pull the leaves from the main stems, then break the stems into pieces; allegedly, the morning glory retains its flavour but I've prepared it like this, and also just by breaking it all up together, and it makes no difference to the taste at all!
If you're using an electric or ceramic hob, it will take longer to heat the oil, so you'll want to put the wok on the hob when you start to prep the ingredients.
Nutritional information doesn't include rice.
This is also a great way to cook Napa cabbage - just slice thinly, and follow the recipe - no need to do anything different! If you want to use baby bok choy, keep the leaves and stems whole.