Stir-fry 7 Types Vegetables
This stir-fry 7 types vegetables (七样菜) is a Chinese New Year dish of Teochew origin, typically served on the 7th day of celebrations known as Human Day (人日), aka everyone’s birthday. I actually cooked this yesterday, on the 13th day of CNY, as I am clearing the leftover CNY veggies in my fridge. Being an assortment of stir-fry greens, I firmly believe that this dish can be cooked & enjoyed all year round … I mean, who can say no to eating lots of healthy vegetables?
See Also:
Leftover veggies? Check out this related leftover recipe:
Photos of the ingredients + how to cut them:
There are no rules about what makes up the seven vegetables, but generally they are leafy greens, leeks and scallions. During CNY, try to at least include Chinese leeks 蒜 which symbolize wealth. Avoid negative symbolism such as bitter gourd or salted vegetables.
The seven vegetables (pictured above) I used in this recipe are:
- two stalks Chinese leeks 蒜
- two bunches Shanghai bok choy 上海青
- few stalks choy sum (cai xin) shoots 菜心苗
- one big stalk Chinese spinach (puay leng) 菠菜
- some Chinese (coral) lettuce leaves 生菜
- small head napa cabbage 大白菜
- two stalks “negi” scallion 葱 (only the bottom white part)
Outside of the above seven vegetables, I added baby corn, carrot & red chilli for a splash of colour.
Other suitable vegetables:
- Chinese mustard, broccoli, celery, coriander, spring onion, lily bulb & yellow chives
- Any variety of Chinese cabbage, kale, chives, lettuce & spinach
- Any Chinese greens such as baby bok choy (小白菜), choy sum (菜心), nai bai (奶白) & kailan (芥蓝)
- and the list goes on…
This recipe is great for clearing the fridge!
Items 1 & 5-7 above are leftovers from CNY so this dish is essentially a clearing-the-fridge exercise for me. My neighborhood wet market vegetable stall sells leafy vegetables the “ala carte method” by weight, so I bought small handfuls of the other three veggies (item 2-4) to make this dish. In this way, I don’t need to buy a packet of each vegetable, which in turn would create more leftovers from making a leftover dish :p
How to cut and cook the vegetables?
I sort the cut vegetables to three plates, in the order of putting them into the wok based on the timing needed to cook them.
Stir-fry 7 Types Vegetables Recipe
Feel free to substitute the 7 vegetables in this recipe with your favourite seasonal greens. Other suitable vegetables include: broccoli, coriander, celery, baby kailan, kailan (Chinese kale), lily bulb and chives.
You can add a meat component such as pacific clams, prawns, roast pork or Chinese sausage (lup cheong) & bak kwa to make this a “one-dish side dish”.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 slices ginger minced
- 1 finger-length red chilli sliced thinly
- half carrot sliced thinly
- 2 baby corn sliced diagonally to shorter sections
- 1 level tbsp mushroom seasoning powder see note below; to taste
- 2 tbsp rich (tetra-pak) chicken stock use vegetable stock for vegetarian; see note
- 2 tbsp water as needed
- 1 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Tiao/Shaoxing)
- 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
- chopped spring onions to garnish
(A) Seven vegetables
Check out the photos of the 7 vegetables and the cutting method here.
The quantity & weight of the vegetables used is only indicative; feel free to use any amount & adjust the seasonings accordingly.
- 2 stalks Chinese leeks 蒜 separate leaves from stems; sliced diagonally
- 1 stalk “negi” scallion 葱 use only bottom white part; sliced diagonally
- small head (about 100g) napa cabbage 大白菜
- 50g choy sum shoots 菜心苗 separate leaves from the stems; cut stems to shorter sections
- 50g Chinese spinach (puay leng) 菠菜 separate leaves from the stems; cut stems to shorter sections
- 50g coral lettuce leaves 生菜
- 50g Shanghai bok choy 上海青
Directions:
- Prepare the seven vegetables by separating the leaves from the stems & slicing them according to the instructions at the ingredients page. Click here for photos.
- Stir-fry aromatics. Heat oil in wok, then add garlic, ginger and chilli. Stir fry briefly until fragrant.
- Cook vegetables in the following order: First, stir fry leeks (bottom white portion), “negi” scallions, carrot and baby corn for one minute. Add the rest of the vegetables except for coral lettuce. Add mushroom seasoning powder, chicken stock, water and Chinese wine. Stir fry until softened, adding more stock or water if needed. When the vegetables are cooked, turn off the stove and stir in the lettuce. Drizzle sesame oil over the cooked vegetables. Garnish with spring onions.
Cooking Note(s):
- I use mushroom seasoning powder as a delicious MSG-free seasoning for all my veg stir-fries. You can substitute it with appropriate amount of salt, soy sauce or fish sauce.
- If not using chicken or vegetable stock, replace with water and seasonings.