Stir-fried Cabbage with Dried Prawns

Most first-generation Chinese-Americans like me grew up in relatively modest circumstances. Our parents had to keep a sharp eye on the budget. However, this parsimony never strictly applied to food.

Even for everyday eating, many of our parents could turn an inexpensive food like cabbage into an extremely tasty dish. Necessity is indeed one of the mothers of invention.

My friend Gordon Wing recalls that his mother used to add tiny bits of dried prawns to an everyday food lik