Recipe - Tender Broccoli Stems With Clams

2 pound Broccoli
4 lg Cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Fermented soy beans
One fourth cup Canned baby clams (or
crabmeat or shrimp)
One half cup Stock
2 tablespoon Peanut oil for first
stirfrying
1 tablespoon Peanut oil
Cornstarch paste

Preparation: Wash broccoli and cut off flowerets (save for another dish).
With small paring knife, carefully peel outer skin off broccoli stems,
beginning at the base. Leave inner stems whole. Cut stems on the bias
into 1/4" slices.

Rinse fermented soy beans. Peel garlic. Mince together soy beans and
garlic; then mash to a paste using mortar and pestle; set aside. Place
drained baby clams in stock. If substituting fresh clams, crabmeat or
shrimp, wash, shell and chop into small pieces.

Stirfrying: Heat wok to hot, then add first of oil. When oil just begin
to smoke, add broccoli and toss quickly to avoid burning. Stirfry for
about 1 minute. Turn heat down to moderate (or on electric range, remove
from heat). Push broccoli up side of wok; add remaining oil to bottom of
wok; add soy bean mixture. Press and stir until odor of beans and garlic is
present.

Return to high heat and immediately recombine with broccoli, stirring
constantly for about 30 seconds. Beans and garlic will burn easily, so keep
mixture moving. Quickly add clams and stock; stirfry for another 30
seconds. Cover for 30 seconds to finish cooking broccoli. Remove cover;
thicken with cornstarch paste to light sauce.

Posted by Fred Peters.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini