If you are tired of eating green beans or the same salad for dinner, you should give bok choy a try. It’s inexpensive, easy to cook, and has a mild flavour that goes well with many dishes and agrees with most people’s palette. You might notice there are different sizes and types of bok choy available in the grocery store. While you can cook them all the same way, Kitty’s favourite is baby “Shanghai” bok choy that has light green stems and dark green leaves (versus white stems for regular bok choy) for a milder and sweeter taste. You should try different ones and decide what you like best.
This stir-fry style of cooking vegetable can work with many different vegetable other than bok choy. When you visit an Asian grocery store, Kitty encourages you to try out different vegetable and when in doubt, stir-fry it with garlic! Just adjust cooking time and seasoning based on the different vegetable. If the vegetable is slightly bitter, balance it with a sprinkle of sugar.
List of ingredients for easy copy and pasting:
- 2 pounds Shanghai baby bok choy (or any other type of bok choy or vegetable you like)
- 4-5 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp Chinese cooking rice wine (optional)
Having not grown up with some of the staples of a Chinese kitchen, one of my favorite discoveries has been bok choy and baby boy choy. The vegetable is so versatile as a nutrient-rich and flavorful addition to many meals. As the author indicated, it is great to now have another ‘go to’ green vegetable that’s so easy to incorporate. My only complaint is inconsistent supermarket availability, but when I see it, I usually buy a bunch. Looking forward to trying this recipe the next time I do.
Thanks AJ! Sounds like it will be good for Kitty to also share the Chinese way of cooking some of the other “go to” green vegetable like green beans. More to come!