蒜蓉蠔油炒窩筍

We were up early and thought we'd get nasi lemak at Chinatown Complex Food Center. But K.R. Banana Leaf was closed, even though they said they open for breakfast. Zzzzz. Never mind, we'd just have a coffee. Not keen on the rest of the food stalls. I was psyched to eat nasi lemak, not bak chor mee or fried beehoon, and definitely not nasi padang although I was mildly curious about the stall.

Decided to check out the wet market for Chinese celtuce or stem lettuce (wo1 sun3, 萵筍). Picked up spring onions, yellow onions, garlic, coriander and some other stuff from the nearest vegetable stall I chanced upon. The auntie said she doesn't carry wo sun, and only one stall here sells it. Okay. She waved in the general direction. I toddled off and randomly found it. Some guy was also looking for it. I grinned and waved the two stalks in my hand at him. These were it. He merrily went over to look at the stalks on display. The shopkeeper looked a little befuddled. He must be wondering why on earth so many people wanted this vegetable today.

I've never cooked this vegetable. But hey, it's a Chinese stir-fry/boiled thing right? It wouldn't be difficult. Plus I have retained memories of its taste and how it was cooked during my time in Yunnan. I know those leaves could be eaten. But this batch wasn't the freshest. The leaves looked sad. Didn't bother to stir-fry them into 油麥菜. The stems would suffice. Forget the vegetable peeler. It doesn't work on these stems. I literally used the cleaver to slice them up and skimmed off the rough edges. Decided to boil them a little in the pan, then tossed it in oyster sauce and garlic. Threw in a chili padi as well. #ImpieCooks2020

We had loads of frozen beef, bones and fat from all the tomahawks at O'maJ. We ought to use them soonest. There were decent pieces of meat to fry up. But there were also tons of fats. The man rendered them down into oil in the oven. Tallow. He used it to do a beef fried rice. No sambal in it. We could always just dish it out by the side. It was a heavy sort of fried rice. (Leftovers could be jazzed up by adding toppings of hae bee hiam or kimchi.) I was glad for the vegetables. The crunchy stems and bit of heat and spice went great with it.