Shrimp Stirfry (Issues with being a cooking newbie)

I'm including this recipe because it is quintessential. Despite my now obvious mistakes and ingredient changes, mostly because I couldn't get what I needed. I have since discovered that I can get the ingredients - I just didn't know what I was looking for in the German shops. I do know now though, not that I am in Germany anymore. I'm not saying that Germany doesn't have the ingredients, but I am saying that I am a cooking newbie - Bok Choy and Sprouting Broccoli confuse me, add German to the mix and confused.com doesn't even begin to cover, how difficult it can be - even using google translate doesn't really help. Bok Choy for example came up as Bok Choy, only that's not what it is called in German. I wandered around that vegetable aisle for ages looking for Bok Choy and couldn't find it anywhere - so I decided to look for something similar - great, but what is similar to Bok Choy? At that point I wasn't even 100% sure, what it looked like or tasted like so how was I supposed to find something similar? I was certainly wishing that instead of assuming I would be able to get it, that I had done some research before leaving home. On this occasion I used savoy cabbage instead. I didn't give up though and on a later shopping trip I did find Bok Choy, I still didn't know what it was called, but at this point after having looked in my ingredients reference book that my husband had bought me for my birthday, I had a rough idea of what I was looking for. I had almost given up hope of finding it, when I picked this green leafy vegetable up and decided that, that was about as close as I was going to get - I got home and pulled that ingredients book out again and would you believe it, I had only gone and found the all illusive Bok Choy in German it is called Mari Gold or something like that, don't quote me on it though because I can't check. 

Shrimp Stirfry

 

11/2tsp cornflour/cornstarch

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 small savoy cabbage

1lb uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp red chilli flakes

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cups fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced

 

 

1. In a small bowl combine the cornflour/cornstarch, stock and soy sauce until smooth. Set aside, thinly slice the cabbage and set aside.

 

2. In a large, skillet or wok, stir-fry shrimp in 1 tbsp of the oil, until the shrimpp turn pink, remove and keep warm.

 

3. Stir-fry the garlic and the chilli flakes in the remaining oil for about a minute the add the onion, mushrooms and  cabbage stir-fry for 4 minutes or until the vegetables are crisp tender.

 

4. Stir in the cornflour/cornstarch mixture and add to the pan, bring to a boil; cook and stir for a few minutes or until thickened add the shrimp and heat through, serve with chinese noodles.