July 15, 2004
Pea Sprouts/ Snow Pea Leaves
I adore this vegetable. It is, without a doubt, my favourite green, the foodstuff which I am constantly craving if I go more than a couple of days without it. Some of the Chinese restaurants in the city offer pea sprouts. Sometimes they are indeed the sprouts themselves, tiny, thin-stemmed multitudes, like so many green needles, crisp and crunchy in fragrant garlic sauce. Other restaurants, such as the Go-Go Cafe on Irving and 19th, and Ton Kiang on Geary, actually serve pea leaves (Ton Kiang lists them as "Snow Pea Tips" on their menu) -- which I've come to prefer over the more traditional sprouts. In the restaurants I believe they're called Tom Yau, or To Miao.
Up until Thursday I've had bad luck at cooking that which I loved. I didn't know how to trim them, nor of just the right combination of seasonings that made the restaurant-cooked versions so tasty. Fortuitously, I figured it out -- I happened to have a nice bagful of beautifully trimmed greens from Richmond New May, and I decided that I would use not only garlic, but also Chinese rice wine and chicken broth in the sauteé. And, by the grace of god -- it worked, and I turned out a beautiful dish of sauteed snow pea leaves, nutty and savory with just the right amount of crunch and saltiness. I had a huge bowlful for dinner that night, much in the way your average American might eat a salad for supper.
Preparation is easy if you have a nicely-trimmed bagful -- all you need to do is rinse; but in the event you find yourself with longish stalks, make sure to pluck off and use only the leaves themselves. Sautee a lot of chopped garlic in a fair amount of oil. Wait until the garlic begins to brown and smell yummy; add the pea leaves, salt. When the vegetable is on its way to wilting, add a splash or two or three of chicken broth, then some similar splashes of chinese rice wine. Stir and toss until the greens look -- done.
Posted by claudine at July 15, 2004 10:29 PM
Hi Claudine,
Great pictures on your website! Can't look at them anymore, they make me salivate. I wish I knew about your site when I was living in SF a year ago.
I was talking to a friend about this vegetable last night and had it for dinner as well but I forgot the english name for it. You're right, some chinese resturants prepare them so well, "nutty and savory with just the right amount of crunch and saltiness". It's really easy to overcook or undercook snow pea leaves.
I just want to add two comments to your post: stir fry the vegetable in high heat (medium towards the end) and toss quickly, it'll wilt very quickly but maintain it's crunchiness. This way, it's more likely to turn out well. Whatever you did (if not this way), seems to work out well too.
Secondly, add a bit of corn starch to the chicken broth, that way the sauce will thickened up and form a glaze which will "stick" to the leaves better.
Also noticed the "pea sprouts" dish you talked about on your site:
http://www.winterjade.com/delectation/archives/000153.html
It's also called "Tau Miao" in cantonese. But yeah, same here, I prefer the leaves most of the time, unless if the sprouts are tender and not stringy.
Fun and informative website you have there, I enjoy browsing through it....
jen
Posted by: jen at November 22, 2004 09:59 AMhello jen,
thanks so much for your great comments and tips on cooking tau miao. were you in San Francisco for only a short while?
I saw snow pea leaves in Chinatown a few days ago and they looked gorgeous -- thanks to your site, I now have some ideas about how to cook them. Wonderful!
Posted by: Erin at January 11, 2005 11:24 PMyou buy this at ranch 99 if you're close to one. it seems to be seasonal though.
Posted by: jon at January 24, 2005 05:08 PMI grow pea tips. My favorite recipe is stir fried with garlic and oil and after they cooked put a little oyster sause over them,very good! They are grown year round but very low production in the summer (sno pea tips). I am thinking of introducing them into the US market, possibly Trader Joe's. What do you think?
Posted by: Joaquin at February 13, 2005 06:34 PMdefinitely a seasonal thing, and joaquin, i'd say the more places that we can get pea sprouts/ pea tips, fantastic!
Posted by: claudine at February 20, 2005 05:02 PMI love this veggie!! My I also suggest another equally good green, water spinach; also known as swamp cabbage or morning glory. You can pretty much prepare it the same way as snow pea tips, but I've seen it with black bean sauce, fish sauce and/or with Thai chilies.
Posted by: Rebecca at March 3, 2005 10:08 AMI recently had tao miou prepared with a dash of fermented soy paste. Wonderful. This was recommended at one of my favorite chinese restaurants in ATL for tao miou, China Delight, on Chamblee Tucker off Buford Hwy.
Also, no list of cravable chinese veggies would be complete without gailan, sometimes called chinese broccoli, most commonly topped with oyster sauce.
I've never seen tao miou served with oyster sauce and personally it sounds wrong-- the subtlety of flavor would be too easily overwhelmed by such a rich sauce. Not so gailan, which goes with oyster sauce perfectly, and for which garlic sauce is really too subtle.
Posted by: Keith at March 9, 2005 01:42 PM