Stir-Fried Vegetables: My First Day in Class

November 22, 2014 is a day to remember since its my first day in our culinary class.  There were only ten of us enrolled in our block section and considered as a team; we will be spending a great deal of time with each other for a couple of months. Not only that I’m happy since I have found new friends who share the same passion but I also had learned so much from our chef instructor for that day, Chef Duffy. 

Before getting our hands in the kitchen, we had discussions on the basic methods of cooking. Chef Duffy simply discussed everything in a very comprehensive way that made it easier for us to understand the difference between dry from moist heat cooking and so on and so forth. He demonstrated to us the different parts of a knife, its types as well as the different cuts we need to master. So one by one, we tried to do each type of food cut and had real fun while learning. We tried dicing potatoes, slicing onions, mincing garlic and ginger and many more. We then cooked the vegetables since it’s a waste if we will just throw everything away. So there, the vegetables were just added with diced meat and voila! We had stir-fried vegetables at the end of our first session. 

It feels so great to become a student once again after being a worker having the same routine for a long time. Being a student just makes you empty yourself and have that humbleness to fill that empty space with new and better ideas. After all, I believe that there is no end to learning and those who embrace it get better in whatever they do and get the best out of life.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Stir-Fried Vegetables

Author: Tet Dacillo

Ingredients

½ cup potatoes, diced

½ cup carrots, diced

½ cup pork, diced

¼ cup celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp ginger, minced

1 medium onion, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp chicken powder

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté garlic, ginger and onions until golden brown and caramelized. Add diced pork and stir continuously until it turns slightly brown. Add potatoes, carrots, and celery to the mixture. Stir fry until vegetables until half-cooked and season with chicken powder, oyster sauce, salt and pepper. When it’s done, remove pan from heat and serve while still hot.