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Because Mother's Day is just around the bend, here's a recipe that pays tribute to the glories of a mother's home cooking. It's from Grace Young's new "Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge" (Simon & Schuster). The author got the recipe from Amy Yip, a cook who grew up in Hong Kong and learned how to make this simple dish as a young girl. "Cucumbers were always cheap," Yip says in the book, which was important for her family of nine.

Here's a blessedly brief shopping list of ingredients. To view the entire recipe, just click on its title.

Stir-Fried Cucumber and Pork With Golden Garlic
2 to 3 servings

This is characteristic of a yin-yang stir-fry, so called because it combines cooling ingredients (such as cucumber) with the heat of others (in this case, garlic and ginger). Garlic mellowed by frying is the main seasoning here; some of the oil used for the garlic is then incorporated in the dish. It’s best to use an instant-read thermometer to gauge the temperature of the oil.

Pork shoulder or butt doesn’t usually come in small amounts. Ask your butcher to cut down a larger roast; freeze what you don’t use for this recipe.

Serve with steamed rice.

1/2 cup peanut or vegetable oil

3 to 5 large cloves garlic

12 ounces boneless lean pork shoulder or butt (see headnote)

2- to 3-inch piece ginger root

1 large (seedless) English cucumber

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon sugar

Questions?

-- Bonnie Benwick