I used the concept of stir-fried Chinese greens, which is one of my favourite things to eat when making oriental food at home. I say oriental as we always take a bit of Chinese, bit of Thai, bit of Japanese and hash it all together. In 'real' stir-fried greens you'd use pak choi, but this recipe, since it isn't cooked, recreates the original texture best with spinach.
ingredients:
200g (half a pound) of spinach, washed and dried
1 spring onion (green onion, scallion) finely chopped
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
half inch of ginger, finely chopped
2 teaspoons sesame oil (or other nutty flavoured oils)
splash tamari/soy sauce/nama shoyu
1 teaspoon honey (if you're true vegan, substitute with your favourite sweetener, but I'm not sure it will have the same effect.)
sprinkle of sunflower and sesame seeds
method:
Mix half of the oil, the garlic, ginger, tamari and honey and leave it to infuse for at least ten minutes (you can do this the day before for extra punch.)
Make sure the spinach is thoroughly dry. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the spinach and massage, with your hands, until the spinach darkens and becomes soft and glossy.
Add the chopped spring onions and seeds, then give the dressing a good mix or if you made it in a jar, then shake until homogenised and pour that over. Mix well.
Serve in rice bowls with chopsticks as a great oriental starter or side dish to some nori rolls.
