Wok-Seared Spinach Relish

Name: Wok-Seared Spinach Relish
Yield: Serves 4 to 6
Cuisine: China
Ingredients: ¼ teaspoon Ma-La Oil, Five-Flavor Oil, or Japanese sesame oil; ½ teaspoon kosher salt; ½ small red (bell) pepper, finely diced; ¼ teaspoon sugar; 2 to 3 teaspoons corn or peanut oil, for stir-frying; 2 to 3 cloves garlic, sliced paper-thin; ½ small red onion, cut into moons 1/16 inch thin; 8 packed Cups spinach leaves

Preparation info

Serves
4 to 6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

China Moon Cookbook

By Barbara Tropp

Published 1992

About

Equally good hot, tepid, or at room temperature, this is a “relish” as much as a vegetable. The texture is silken and vibrant, and the flavor is very clean.

Blanching the spinach can be done well in advance of stir-frying; simply leave it in a strainer to siphon off the extra water.

Ingredients

8 packed Cups spinach leaves
2 to 3 teaspoons corn or peanut oil, for stir-frying<

Asia
China
Dinner
Vegetarian
Gluten-free

Method

Bring a generous amount of water to a rolling boil. Add the spinach, push under the water, and blanch for 5 seconds. Submerge in ice water to chill; drain. Squeeze in small handfuls to extract excess water. Fluff to loosen the leaves.
Heat a wok or large heavy skillet over high heat until a bead of water evaporates on contact. Add