Wok Wednesdays: The Breath of a Wok | Liang Nian Xiu's Snow Peas, Tomatoes, and Chilies

As I mentioned in my last post, we have finished cooking our way through Grace Young's Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge, and so we begin a new odyssey with her book The Breath of a Wok, an IACP Cookbook Award winner.

Most people think of only stir-frying when they see or hear of woks; but there is so much more that can be done in this amazing vessel which we are soon going to discover - such as steaming, braising, boiling, poaching, deep-fat frying, pan-frying, and yes, even smoking in the wok, proving that the wok is quite the versatile pan to have in your kitchen arsenal.

Oh, and it makes great popcorn too!

 Mise en place.

Bowl 1: Bacon, ginger, garlic, chili

Bowl 2: Snow peas

Bowl 3: Tomato

Bowl 4: Salt, sugar

We started with a simple vegetable stir-fry of crisp snow peas, sweet tomatoes, and smoky bacon - what a wonderful fusion of flavors.

This makes a great side dish or even a light lunch served alongside some rice.

The recipe can be found on page 132 of The Breath of a Wok, which you may just want to pick up at your local bookstore for it is more than just a cookbook, it even has a whole chapter dedicated from finding the perfect wok to seasoning and caring for your treasured pan - a wok manual of sort and is filled with personal stories and gorgeous photos from Grace's travels during her research in wok cooking and culture, which sadly is becoming a lost art; but hopefully there will be a resurgence in authentic wok cooking thanks to Grace and her books, and the Wok Wednesdays group which is just shy (and by shy I mean 6) of 2000 members as of this posting.


We have been asked not to post the recipes on our blogs, so why don't you grab the book and join in on the fun and become a Wok Wednesday member yourself! Come check us out on Facebook.