Part I:
We all want to get dinner on the table quickly, and we don't want to sacrifice health. So, instead of picking up the phone for take-out Lari Robling of WHYY's Fit goes shopping on Delaware Avenue with an expert…

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RECIPES: -Stir-Fried Yau Choi with Oyster Sauce »
-Stir-Fried Lettuce with Garlic Chili »
-Yin Yang Beans »
-Chicken and Japanese Eggplant Stir-Fry with Garlic and Chiles »

While food from a Chinese restaurant is usually brimming with vegetables, it's often high in fat and additives. But, Chinese homecooking is one of the healthiest and easiest cooking methods. That's what Grace Young says, she's the author of Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge. Young is often called the wok evangelist, so she offered to teach me the basics. We began in an Asian market in Philadelphia where her energy and enthusiasm for authentic ingredients was catching…

Robling: "Alright, wait for me grace…"

Young: "This is a pretty great selection of vegetables for the wintertime here we are looking at Shanghai bok choi, which is really quite beautiful, very, very, delicate. Right next to it is one of my favorite vegetables its called yau choi. This vegetable is perfect in the wintertime it has very, very slender stems, they are almost like the size of a thick pencil, and it has this beautiful dark green leafy tops to it. I think this would actually be a great vegetable for us to stir-fry today, this is really gorgeous quality."

Robling: "Good let's buy that one."

Young: "So, there's a tremendous selection of oyster sauces, but my all-time favorite is made by Lee Kum Kee, that's the name of the brand, and they are the originators of oyster sauce. Even they have many, many different styles of oyster sauce, but my favorite is this bottle right here. It says here premium oyster flavored sauce so that's the one to look for."

Robling: "What else do we need?"

Young: "Fish sauce, and my favorite brand is called Three Crabs Brand Fish Sauce. Do be very careful because there are a lot of knock-offs and sometimes there are fish sauces that you can buy that are called 'Two Crabs.' "

Young: "Of course you need soy sauce. My favorite happens to be Kikkomann which of course is not Chinese, but they make a soy sauce that is organic. This one is additive free and the flavor is just clean and fresh."

Robling: "Ok, so we have all of our ingredients, right?"

Young: "Yeah."

Join us next Saturday when Grace and I shop for the best wok. You'll be surprised where we found it!

Continue Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge in this conversation between Chef Jim Coleman and Grace Young from July 2010.

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CHECK OUT OUR JOURNEY TO FIND HEALTHY INGREDIENTS FOR THE WOK:

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