For Cynthia/Junior

Ok, i love cabbage. I LOVE stir fries. Ever since I got off my butt and went and bought a REAL wok and seasoned it, I have re-fallen in love with Asian cooking. This is something that is rediculously easy, quick, nutritious, and tasty. It's also awesome cause it only has 4-5 ingredients. :-D If you haven't really read the blog before, memmi is the Japanese Udon/tempura base (basically soy sauce and bonito), and it's a killer stir fry sauce. It's cheap (under $3 a bottle), and has a nice depth of flavor. If you don't have a wok, use a pot withOUT nonstick on it so you can crank the heat. Stir frying is all about quick cooking, and non-stick on medium just doesn't cut it. Then you end up with steamed things.

Quick Cabbage Stir Fry
1 medium head cabbage (or 2 half heads - 1 each of green and red)
a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and quartered
3 garlic cloves, sliced
olive oil (about 1 tbsp, enough to wet the wok)
a couple tbsp of water - set aside in a cup, just in case things start sticking or burning
memmi - about 1/4c you'll add this as you go along, so it's really more about eyeballing it
optional - 1 tbsp red pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil (for a little more flavor)

Rinse cabbage, shake mostly dry, decore, and cut up into about 1" cubes. The dimmension really doesn't matter, just try to be sensible, and cut up the thicker stuff smaller. Heat oil, ginger, and garlic in a wok (toss everything together in the cold pan) at med/high till everything starts sizzling. toss for a minute or 2, just until the garlic starts to crisp up a little. This is mainly to flavor the oil without burning the spices. Turn up heat to high and toss in cabbage. Toss in pan with wok spatula frequently until the thicker parts of the cabbage are beginning to steam nicely. Add Memmi...a few glugs here, the cabbage will start to wilt into the color...stir fry for another couple of minutes, add a few more glugs (you want to avoid the pool of it at the bottom, so keep stirring!), turn off the heat, toss a couple more times, and serve.