Last night I wanted something with vegetables, so on reviewing what I had on hand I decided on some quick stir fries.  The first one started with a bag of “brocco-slaw” which you can pick up in most grocery stores.  It’s basically shredded broccoli stems, with some carrot and purple cabbage for color.  It makes a great stir fry, and it’s zero work.  I through some oil and garlic in the wok, fried the garlic briefly, chowing all the while.  (Chow is the technical wokking word for “tossing quickly so it doesn’t scorch”.)  Once the garlic had browned, I tossed in the bag of broccoli bits and chowed them until they softened up a bit.  I added some soy sauce, oyster sauce, and a little toasted sesame oil.  Once everything looked pretty much “cooked” I added a cubed block of firm tofu, and heated it through, then served (with rice). 

The second dish was one of my quickie favorites, spicy stir-fried cucumbers.  Peel a cuke or two, cut them in half length-wise, and remove the seeds with a spoon.  Then chop them into bite-sized pieces.  In the wok, heat up some oil, then throw in the cukes.  Add some soy sauce, your favorite chili paste (I use a Chinese garlic/bean/chili paste) and maybe a dash of sesame oil.  Chow until the cucumbers just start to soften a bit, maybe 3–4 minutes.  We don’t usually think of cucumbers being cooked, but it’s a very simple and very tasty way to use up some cucumbers you may have on hand.