Blanching chayote shoots keeps them light and keeps the kitchen free of smoke — which suits the way people want to eat now. The dish is simple, and the part that matters is the dressing: a shallot sauce built on premium fried shallots, spooned straight over the blanched greens. It is clean, savoury and good to look at, and the shallot aroma carries; wherever the dressing lands, the greens taste like something else entirely.
Want to try it? It is simple, light and quick — use Cheng Chi Taiwanese fried shallots and you will taste it as it is meant to be.

For the dressing:
Water 1 cup (about 200 ml), soy sauce 1/4 cup, potato starch 1 tbsp, red rock sugar 1 tsp
Mirin 1 tbsp, Cheng Chi fried shallots about 3 tbsp, fermented bean curd half a cube

To make the dressing:
Put three quarters of a cup of water and the red rock sugar in a pan and bring to the boil until the sugar dissolves. Mix the remaining quarter of water with the potato starch and stir it in to thicken.
Add the fermented bean curd, soy sauce and mirin to balance the sweetness, then stir in the shallot sauce, bring back to the boil, and it is done.
“Use it as a dressing, a dipping sauce, or a braising sauce.”
4. Drain, arrange on a plate, spoon over the shallot dressing and take it to the table.


Ingredients:
Fresh mushrooms — a handful
Chayote shoots — a handful

Method:
1. Trim the base off the mushrooms and rinse.
2. Pick over the chayote shoots for the tender parts and rinse.
3. Add a little salt and oil to a pan of boiling water. Blanch the mushrooms first and lift them out to cool, then blanch the chayote shoots and drop them into iced water for a moment — it keeps them crisp.
4. Drain, arrange on a plate, spoon over the shallot dressing and take it to the table.



Compare the two photographs: with the dressing the dish not only looks better, it tastes of considerably more.