Come and get it!
Welcome to my blog and my first post! I believe we eat with our eyes as much as our mouth and this blog is my dedication to that saying.
A few months back I was introduce to jicama (hee-kah-mah) by my uncle. I’ve seen it a few times, especially in Asian supermarkets, but never knew the English name of it or how it taste like. How I wish I was introduce to it sooner! Jicama or “saa got”, as pronounce in Cantonese, is a vegetable native to Mexico that has a semi-tough brown skin on the outside and a white crisp texture on the inside. To me, its flavor resembles almost a pear but less sweet. You can peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, but I find that if you make a small cut on the top of the jicama you can easily peel off a large section of the skin off.
One of my uncle’s favorite way to cook “saa got” is in a “ding” dish. “Ding” dishes in Chinese usually means the ingredients are all cut up into bite size cubes. One of the most popular and recognized “ding” dishes here in America is Kung Pao Chicken. Served alone with a bowl of rice, “ding” dishes are a great one plate meal.
To make this dish vegetarian, just take out the chicken and instead of using oyster sauce, substitute it with a vegetarian stir-fry sauce. I recommend Lee Kum Kee’s Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce.
Jicama (Saa Got) Ding
Ingredients:
Jicama – 1 large
Chicken breast or cutlets – quarter pound
Carrot – small
White button mushroom
Cucumber – small
Corn kernel – 1 to 2 ears (In the photo above I used yellow squash instead of corn. Although it turned out ok, I prefer corn over the squash)
Oyster sauce – about 3 tablespoons
Sugar – ½ teaspoon
Soy sauce – about 4 teaspoons
Cornstarch – about 2 teaspoons
Water – 1/3 cup
Salt and white pepper to taste
Cut your chicken, jicama, carrot, and cucumber into even size cubes. Cube your mushrooms as well but slightly larger since they do tend to shrink when cooked. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup of water with 2 teaspoon of cornstarch, ½ teaspoon of sugar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce. Mix well and set aside. This will be your thickener.
In a wok or pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil and the cubed chicken. Add in 1 tablespoon of the oyster sauce. Cook until done. Set aside.
In the same wok, add in 2 teaspoon of oil, the cubed jicama and carrots. Cook for a few minutes and add in remaining cubed vegetables. Add 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir and mix well. Taste and adjust to see if you need more oyster sauce or salt.
Cook until vegetables are tender but still crispy. Add in the cooked chicken.
Make a whole in the middle of your wok or pan and pour a little more then a half of the thickener in it. Make sure to stir the sauce in the bowl before you add it into the wok. Watch for it to bubble up and mix all the vegetables and chicken with it. If you need more sauce, add the remaining thickener. Stir until everything is well coated and plate.
For an extra crunch, sprinkle some roasted peanuts on top after plating.
Feeds about 2 to 4 people.
When I was observing my uncle cooking this dish he didn’t use any measuring spoons. It was either a pinch of this or a splash of that. Trying to convert his pinches and splashes into units of measurements was more of a headache then trying to perfectly cube the vegetables! I have terrible knife skills! This is why I always believe that you should taste as you cook along.
Have you tried jicama before? If yes, what is your favorite way to prepare it?
A few months back I was introduce to jicama (hee-kah-mah) by my uncle. I’ve seen it a few times, especially in Asian supermarkets, but never knew the English name of it or how it taste like. How I wish I was introduce to it sooner! Jicama or “saa got”, as pronounce in Cantonese, is a vegetable native to Mexico that has a semi-tough brown skin on the outside and a white crisp texture on the inside. To me, its flavor resembles almost a pear but less sweet. You can peel the skin with a vegetable peeler, but I find that if you make a small cut on the top of the jicama you can easily peel off a large section of the skin off.
One of my uncle’s favorite way to cook “saa got” is in a “ding” dish. “Ding” dishes in Chinese usually means the ingredients are all cut up into bite size cubes. One of the most popular and recognized “ding” dishes here in America is Kung Pao Chicken. Served alone with a bowl of rice, “ding” dishes are a great one plate meal.
To make this dish vegetarian, just take out the chicken and instead of using oyster sauce, substitute it with a vegetarian stir-fry sauce. I recommend Lee Kum Kee’s Vegetarian Stir-Fry Sauce.
Jicama (Saa Got) Ding
Ingredients:
Jicama – 1 large
Chicken breast or cutlets – quarter pound
Carrot – small
White button mushroom
Cucumber – small
Corn kernel – 1 to 2 ears (In the photo above I used yellow squash instead of corn. Although it turned out ok, I prefer corn over the squash)
Oyster sauce – about 3 tablespoons
Sugar – ½ teaspoon
Soy sauce – about 4 teaspoons
Cornstarch – about 2 teaspoons
Water – 1/3 cup
Salt and white pepper to taste
Cut your chicken, jicama, carrot, and cucumber into even size cubes. Cube your mushrooms as well but slightly larger since they do tend to shrink when cooked. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix 1/3 cup of water with 2 teaspoon of cornstarch, ½ teaspoon of sugar, and 4 teaspoons of soy sauce. Mix well and set aside. This will be your thickener.
In a wok or pan, add 1 teaspoon of oil and the cubed chicken. Add in 1 tablespoon of the oyster sauce. Cook until done. Set aside.
In the same wok, add in 2 teaspoon of oil, the cubed jicama and carrots. Cook for a few minutes and add in remaining cubed vegetables. Add 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir and mix well. Taste and adjust to see if you need more oyster sauce or salt.
Cook until vegetables are tender but still crispy. Add in the cooked chicken.
Make a whole in the middle of your wok or pan and pour a little more then a half of the thickener in it. Make sure to stir the sauce in the bowl before you add it into the wok. Watch for it to bubble up and mix all the vegetables and chicken with it. If you need more sauce, add the remaining thickener. Stir until everything is well coated and plate.
For an extra crunch, sprinkle some roasted peanuts on top after plating.
Feeds about 2 to 4 people.
When I was observing my uncle cooking this dish he didn’t use any measuring spoons. It was either a pinch of this or a splash of that. Trying to convert his pinches and splashes into units of measurements was more of a headache then trying to perfectly cube the vegetables! I have terrible knife skills! This is why I always believe that you should taste as you cook along.
Have you tried jicama before? If yes, what is your favorite way to prepare it?
posted by friedwontons4u at
5:30 PM
4 Comments:
First, welcome to the blog world! This dish sounds delicious - I love jicama, but usually just eat it as a snack with some lemon juice and salt, and sometimes some spices.
It's neat how Asians took a Mexican ingredient and made it their own.
Welcome to the flogger world! Your site is already looking very good. I am adding you to my RSS.
Thank you for the warm welcomes Deborah and Nate-n-Annie! It's always great meeting fellow food lovers.
Deborah, that sounds like a great refreshing snack especially during the hot summer days.
Nate-n-Annie, I RSS you as well! Now I'm really interested in finding out how jicama got introduce in Asia.
Welcome to the blogosphere! Great first post, by the way.
I don't think I've even had cooked jicama before. Usually, we just peel it and eat it with a little salt.
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