Ken Hom’s Red-Cooked Winter Vegetables

With the duck and the Lettuce Fried Rice, plus a light dessert, this would make a complete Chinese-style Christmas dinner, but it can be served Western-style and will go well with a spicy white wine or a young, fruity red.

Red-cooking is a technique usually employed for cooking meats, simmering them in a rich, red sauce of Chinese spices, and you can easily adapt the recipe for meat, poultry or even a very sturdy