Wok Meets Chard: Crafting Lusciously Loaded Asian Dishes in New Hampshire

"Oh Lord, please don't burn us, don't kill us, don't toast your flock. Don't put us on the barbecue or simmer us in stock; don't bake or baste or boil us for stir-fry us in a wok."
                                                                                                 -From Monty Python & Flying Circus

"Wok (noun, pronounced wak): 1) a large bowl-shaped cooking utensil used especially in stir-frying; 2) also, a noun to express excitement about dining out for Asian cuisine."

1) Tom thought he could make savory tofu in his wok, much to the skepticism of his college neigbors. After letting the tofu simmer in a strange rice-wine vinegar & Hoisin sauce brew, his tofu became the mainstay of "Friday night munchies" throughout the campus.

2) "Let's go to CHINA FREAKIN' WOK!," Tom's friend Maria shouted after the party let out at 2 a.m.


Gratefully, wok cooking never has to be painful; if anything, the ability to cook, saute, & blend ingredients for a fresh, healthy, and ultimately luscious dish stands out remarkably with stir-frys & myriad fusions. If anything, it's been been proposed by more than one astute mind that the ever-American concept of the "melting pot" came from woks.

Case-in-point: Last night's creation of "Keene King Tofu," a New England Asian eggplant & tofu stir-fry cooked  in a now-cozier house share here in Keene, New Hampshire. Alongside a $3.00 New Mexican wok acquired from a yard sale, some of the following ingredients proved key:

- Cheaply yet freshly purchased Jasmine rice, white-rice wine vinegar, and Hoisin sauce from Shaw's Supermarket;

- A plethora of produce from Midwestern American carrots;

- Mid-Atlantic broccoli & onions;

- New England summer squash & kale;

-Californian & New Hampshire eggplants (including a Blanca Rosa variety);

- Westmoreland, New Hampshire Swiss chard & broccoli, and;

- Californian tofu & red pepper Alongside some dark green Swiss chard.

Oh, and technically three New Mexican dried chili peppers & Kroger's peanuts I brought out from New Mexico.

Once I boiled the Jasmine rice and chopped coarsely yet tenderly all the produce, I heated up the wok in olive oil & garlic magic before throwing in the eggplants to soften, other produce to tender, & finally th red bell pepper & tofu.

Topped off with dry roasted peanuts, the final entree looked something like this:

Debut of "Keene King Tofu," Taken By Matt Young, 08.22.11

A HUGE shout-out to go towards the Keene Farmers' Market, held here in town every Tuesday and Saturday from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on Gilbo Avenue to host such exciting, entrepreneurial vendors as Sun Spring Farm (Westmoreland, NH), Stonewall Farm (Keene, NH), The Bread Shed (Keene, NH), and many others!

More local & food systems goodness to share as fall harvests start out, as well...

*Note, as my physical address has changed, so has my mailing address. If interested in sharing feedback or further correspondence, feel free to contact via my Gmail address & we can continue the conversation old-school.