Blanched Kai Lan Vegetables, Oyster Sauce Mixture, Garlic Oil
Good evening, dear friends 
This is a very common dish found practically in every Chinese home, restaurants and food stalls. The most common name for this dish is “Loke Yow Choy” with its literal translation in English as “Blanched Vegetables with Oil” (but of course, we don’t cook it in oil.)
It is an accompaniment to any meat dishes, goes well with any green vegetables like Kai Lan (kale), Sawi (Collard Greens), Siew Bak Choy, and even Lettuce (the Iceberg variety). Best is that the nutritious value of the vegetables cooked this way is still retained. Whenever I am at a loss as to what vegetable recipe to cook, I will just do this and my family loved this vegetables cooked this way. 
Here are the instructions -
Garlic Oil
Chop finely 6 cloves of garlic. Fry them in 1/2 or one cup of normal cooking oil (peanut, palm, but not olive oil) until just before they turn golden. Pour the garlic and oil into a bowl, the garlic will continue to turn golden in the bowl because of the hot oil. If you wait until the garlic is already golden in colour before removing it from the pan or wok, it will turn brown in the bowl. Set aside for use later.
Oyster Sauce Mixture
In a rice bowl, combine 1 tsp sugar, 2 tbsp hot water, 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce. Stir to mix thoroughly. Set aside for use later.
To Blanch Vegetables
1) Wash vegetables and drain in a colander.
2) Bring to boil 2 litres of water over high heat in a wok or pot. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of garlic oil.
3) Put in the vegetables and cook by stirring them frequently until they are just done (about 2 – 4 minutes depending on the type of vegetables) – test by tasting a piece of vegetable. It should retain some of its crunchiness and green colour.
4) Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a plate. Pour the oyster sauce mixture and a few spoons of the fried garlic and garlic oil over the vegetables.
5) Serve immediately. If serving this dish later, you can prepare the sauce and garlic oil in advance, and pour them over the blanched vegetables at serving time.
You can also use fried shallot oil in place of garlic oil.
sweetrosie said,
January 6, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Fantastic descriptive recipe choesf – thank you
I had been making the mistake of just adding the oyster sauce straight from the bottle – now I know what to do! 
I love greens in this way. There’s one I call kangkong – with hollow stems? That’s my favourite.
Brilliant tip re: the garlic oil. I’ll be sure to remember that.
happyhomemaker88 said,
January 6, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
You are very welcome, dear sweetrosie!
Actually, you are right – most people would just pour the oyster sauce straight from the bottle over the vegetables but personally, I find that taste a bit too strong for my liking. That’s why my version is a bit different. Do try both ways and see which one you prefer. Sometimes, I also add a few drops of sesame oil for added aroma!
Oh, I forgot to mention that I only put about 2 tbsps of garlic oil over the vegetables, and not the whole bowl of it as seen in the picture above…but some may like more of this tasty oil in their vegetables.
Good night from KL!
Cheers,
choesf
candle of hope said,
September 10, 2008 @ 6:03 pm
hello,
thank you for sharing this recipe,
i will try it and hopefully tell you how it turned out
Thank you once again
Regards,
candle of hope
happyhomemaker88 said,
September 11, 2008 @ 11:36 am
Hello there and welcome, dear candle of hope
You are most welcome. I would love to hear how your blanched vegetables with oyster sauce turns out.
Have a nice weekend ahead!
With peace and harmony,
choesf
candle of hope said,
September 11, 2008 @ 4:31 pm
hello,
i tried, but unfortunately i did something i shouldn’t have done..
i added the water we used to boil the vegetables in with the sauce..
my mistake
waiting for more recipes
happyhomemaker88 said,
September 12, 2008 @ 7:29 am
Good morning, dear candle of hope
I’m glad you gave this recipe a try. For the oyster sauce, the hot water required is to melt the sugar, so we can use cool water (and stir it more).
Have a restful weekend!
With peace and harmony,
choesf
Oyster Sauce Vegetables in Garlic Oil | Noob Cook Recipes said,
August 11, 2010 @ 9:26 pm
[...] When it comes to oyster sauce vegetables, it’s not just about slapping oyster sauce over the veggies; the sauce straight from the bottle is really thick and salty. The oyster sauce is usually diluted with some hot water and sugar is added to balance the saltiness. Ingredients (Serves 4) Recipe adapted from HappyHomeMaker88 [...]