Stir-fried Kailan Mayhem

I found onions in the kitchen. T___T

Today, I decided to prepare Kailan Goreng Ikan Masin. It's one of my favourite dishes! 

I rummaged through various recipes on the internet, get the gist of each one of it, and I was ready to cook! Bring it on!

The ingredients needed are:

• Kailan vegetables (chinese broccoli/kale), chopped 
• A bulb of onion, chopped/blend
• A dash of garlic (I'm not sure about the exact amount, but it's lesser than the onion), chopped/blend
• Salt 
• No Ikan Masin. But I have dried shrimps (udang kering) so it's Kailan Goreng Udang Kering then, LOL. 
• Oil

The instructions:

1. Pour the oil into the pan, heat it, and until it is hot enough, put the chopped onion and garlic into it, allowing it to be stir-friend (tumis) until the distinctive aroma is unleashed! (LOL)
2. Wait until it get brown (WRONG! I made a mistake at this point, will be further explained below)
3. Sprinkle the salt on the Kailan
4. Put the kailan into the frying pan
5. Sprinkle a small amount of dried shrimps.
6. Turn off the fire
7. Serve 

But, in the midst of cooking, I found out that my Kailan was turning brownish and withered!!!! Dx

What the crap is this?? 

(the flower-patterned plate was used to mask the hideousness of it, to no avail)

I had a bad feeling about this. 

And when I tasted it, 

C'est horrible!!! It tasted so bitter and oily. The worst Kailan Goreng I've ever eaten! 

What could possibly go wrong? 

I googled and found out that my 'Tumis technique' was WRONG! I should wait until the onion and garlic combination turned yellowish instead of brownish, which indicates that my Onion and garlic got burnt! (hangit!) Thus the bitter taste of it. 

I also realized that unlike rice, vegetables are fragile creatures that could not stand the heat for too long. Poor souls! ;(

Anyway, I was determined to start all over again. I have the 'researcher' spirit in me, and I shall never give up! 

The new and improved instructions:

1. Pour the oil into the pan, heat it, and until it is hot enough, put the chopped onion and garlic into it, allowing it to be stir-friend (tumis) until the distinctive aroma is unleashed!
2. Wait until it gets YELLOWISH
3. Add chicken stock cube (I thought this was my saviour, boy was I wrong) 
4. Meanwhile, you could soak the kailan in a bowl of salt water instead of sprinkling the salt on it. 
5. Put the kailan into the frying pan
6. Sprinkle a small amount of dried shrimps.
7. Turn off the fire
8. Serve 

I was happy to see that it turned out better, SO MUCH better than before.

Appearance/Presentation marks: negative ten

I made the silly mistake of putting too much sweet sauce into it. Hence the brownish gravy-like stuff. Trust me, it looks better in reality.

My verdict: SEDAP!!!! The vegetables are so crunchy, just the way I like it. Onlyy that....it's a bit salty. I guess it's my fault for putting the chicken stock cube (throw-throw only) and putting the salty dried shrimps after that. Dried shrimps are sufficient. No need chicken stock cube. I've never heard of anyone else making this dish with chicken stock cube as one of its ingredients *facepalm*. Plus, I should have tasted it while cooking, to determine the degree of saltiness and tastiness, and to adjust it to my likings.

Best served with white rice. Hot/warm. And nuggets. Long live nuggets!

Never mind, I could always try again and again.

Wah, now I feel like cooking more and more dishes. What shall I cook tomorrow?

Stay tuned for more of my culinary (mis)adventures!