Ingredients
- 300 g gai lan, aka Chinese broccoli, preferably smaller stems
- 6-7 cloves garlic
- Optional: 1-2 Thai chilies, if you want it spicy
- 1½ Tbsp oyster sauce
- ½ Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp water
- ½ tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp ground white or black pepper, or to taste
- Jasmine rice for serving
Instructions
- Cut thick gailan stems on a sharp bias into thin slices. Thinner stems can be chopped into 2-inch pieces. Once you get to the leaves, cut them into bite-sized chunks. Keep the stems and leaves separated.
- Then add garlic and pound just until they look "shredded" (see video for visual). You can also smash the garlic with the side of your knife and roughly chop. If using chilies, pound them along with the garlic or roughly chop.
- In a small bowl, combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and water; stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- In a wok, fry the garlic in a little oil over medium-low heat for a minute or so until light golden. Don't use high heat as you want the garlic to have time to soften and infuse the flavour into the oil.
- Add gai lan stems, turn heat up to medium and cook for about 30-45 seconds.
- Turn the heat up to high, then immediately add gai lan leaves, the sauce, white or black pepper, and cook for only about 30-45 seconds. Remove from heat immediately once the leaves look wilted but not completely collapsed. Do not overcook, the residual heat will wilt the leaves further, and the leaves also get chewy when cooked too much.
- Serve immediately with jasmine rice. Enjoy!