Broto de feijão

Tossed raw at the very end, off the heat, or the crunch is gone before it reaches the table.

Salt and savour on a vegetable that otherwise brings nothing but water and crunch.

Thirty seconds in hot oil, no longer, or the whole point of adding it is lost.

Fat and heat give a blank vegetable the only flavour it is going to get.

A cold-dressed salad version leans on acid since the sprout itself has none.

Green allium on top is the standard finish once the sprouts are off the wok.

Numbing tingle against a vegetable whose whole job is texture, not taste.

Umami dust on a vegetable that supplies none of its own, a Cantonese habit more than a rule.

Salty roe on a blank crunchy vegetable, an accidental resemblance to a garnish it was never meant for.