TV Channel

Hello! My name is Jaydev. I’m from Croatia, and we are here at our newest cooking lesson. As you probably know from our previous lessons, we are now in Vép, Hungary, at our International Yoga in Daily Life summer seminar, having a wonderful time. Today we are going to make a dish you may call a stir-fry or wok. I got the name from this bowl. There is a similar dish in India called a karāī; you can also use a karāī, or any pan if you don't have one. What is typical for stir-fried vegetables is that they are not cooked slowly, but very quickly at a high temperature. That’s why the wok needs to be very hot. First, we are going to heat it thoroughly. It is good to have the biggest flame on; you will later see why. Today we are not making a typical Chinese wok, as we will improvise a little and use some extra spices from Āyurvedic cooking. We are going to use ghee, which is clarified butter. It’s still not hot enough. To check if the wok is hot, you can hold your hand near it. We will wait a little, but I can put some ghee inside now. For stir-fried vegetables, it’s good to use a bit extra oil or grease, as it helps the vegetables fry properly. You can also use sesame oil, which is good but has its own flavor that doesn't always pair well with these Asian spices. We are not using olive oil today; sunflower oil is also very good. We have already cut spring onions and bell peppers. For stir-fry, it’s important to cut vegetables into small pieces so they cook quickly, shortening the cooking time. I mentioned we would make a slight variation from an ordinary dish. We are using asafoetida, or hiṅg, an Indian spice very good for digestion and against gas in the body. This is very important for yoga practitioners, as you don't want gas produced from your food. We will also use coriander seeds, which we will grind just a bit. White pepper would be good, or Sichuan pepper is actually original, but black pepper will also do. We don’t grind the coriander too much—just a bit—and put it in to fry first. We also add chili. This is optional; if you don’t like hot food, you can avoid it. We like it a little hotter because it improves digestion and can cool you in summer by making you sweat; the evaporation then cools you down. Add just a bit of chili so it doesn't burn immediately. Once the chili touches the oil, we immediately add the vegetables: spring onions, carrots, and bell peppers. For stir-fry, you can use any vegetables, but it’s more convenient to use crispy ones, as they should remain a bit crispy inside. The dish is not overcooked but just barely cooked, somewhere between raw and cooked. It’s important to mix it every now and then so it doesn’t burn. As it fries, I’ll cut the cabbage to show how big the chunks should be. It’s very good to have a large cutting surface and a good knife. A small knife or cutting vegetables in your hand won’t work well for this dish. If you are not used to cooking, it’s best to cut everything in advance because once you start, it goes very quickly. At least prepare a portion of your vegetables ahead of time. When adding vegetables to the wok, start with the hardest ones that take longer to cook, and add the softer ones at the end. Now we add the cabbage. Perhaps I cut too much, but it’s always better to cook a smaller amount in a wok; it shouldn’t be completely full, or it will steam rather than fry. This is quite a lot, but it will do. Mix well so all vegetables come into contact with the ghee or oil to get greasy and start frying. As it fries a bit now, we will add some black pepper (not too much), some turmeric, and then chopped ginger and garlic. This can also be a ginger-garlic paste, but it doesn’t have to be ground; finely chopped is fine. The combination gives a wonderful taste to any meal and will greatly improve this dish. You can add it almost anywhere. If you like garlic but not the lingering smell, ginger balances and harmonizes it. This combination is also excellent for digestion and is highly recommended in Āyurveda. It’s important not to add salt immediately, as salt draws water out of the vegetables, causing them to steam rather than fry. Fry until the vegetables start to become softer, stirring all the time. It’s helpful to have a wok with a handle to mix with one hand, but with this one, we use a utensil. Now, as you can see, the vegetables are getting softer. It’s time to add salt. We have some pink Himalayan salt, considered the best in Āyurveda as it contains around 80 different minerals beneficial for the body. Now it gets a bit sticky, so we fry it a little more. At the end, you can add some soy sauce. This is Japanese tamari; you can use Chinese light or dark soy sauce. If you like, you can also add some chopped tomatoes at the end for a touch of sourness, which provides a good contrasting taste. And basically, that’s it. The dish is already cooked; we can call it finished. As you can see, it’s soft but not too soft. You can also add some sauce to make it a bit more moist. It pairs very well with noodles—rice noodles, wheat noodles, or mung dāl noodles—or with grains like couscous, rice, or with chapati or tortilla. We will turn this off, as it is already made. We prepared a similar dish earlier, and it can be served this way. So hurry on, and thank you for watching our culinary workshop. I hope you learned something well and that you practice in your own kitchen. Thank you, and carry on!