Baby Bok Choy

This is baby bok choy.

Cooking it is fast and simple.

Eating it is delicious!

There are so many different kinds of Chinese cabbage.

Pictured below is the small green one, there's also a large white one.

Sometimes I get confused.

If you went to an Asian market to buy seed, it would be called 

Green Baby Pak Choy (Small Loose-Leaf/Green-Petiole Type).

There's a seed catalog here, that has a picture next to the various varieties of Asian vegetables. It'll help you to figure out what's what.

If you go to a Chinese market, get the baby bok choy--the green one like the one in the photo above.

This one is called choy sum--I like this one with the short stalk. 

It tastes a little pepper-y/mustard-y.

This is a photo of take-out my brother brought over from Sam Woo's awhile ago.

There are a multitude of ways to make this vegetable--

Steamed. Stir-fried. Tempura...etc.

Today I'm going to make the baby bok choy my favorite method of the moment--blanched, then quickly stir-fried.

This is new at my Costco. I haven't seen baby bok choy there before.

All the ingredients you need are:

baby bok choy

3 tablespoons peanut or canola oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

Soak the greens in a sinkful of water for a few minutes, swish them around a little to get the dirt out from between the leaves--sometimes there might be a little sand in-between the leaves.

Trim the root end if it's a little brown, and cut the bigger ones in half length-wise.

Boil a pot of water and add just a pinch of salt.

Blanch the baby bok choy for about a minute or two, until they're a little wilted and turn bright green.

Remove them from the pot and stack on a plate.

Add about 3 tablespoons oil to a hot wok or large pan.

Add the minced garlic and ginger.

Let the garlic and ginger sizzle in the pan so the flavors infuse the oil, but don't let it brown.

Add the blanched baby bok choy.

Add a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper.

Chili flakes are good in here, too, if you like heat.

Toss with two spoons to coat the greens quickly.

You want to do it in a minute or so, so the greens don't cook much further.

Just the smell of the garlic and ginger make me hungry!

The greens are tender and so delicious!

Itadakimasu!

***

 Over the weekend we had a fun get-together with my husband's cousins.

Family pot-lucks are always fun.

I didn't get a photo of everything, just some of the dishes.

One of the cousins brought a sushi platter.

My sister-in-law made sesame chicken.

It was a hit--and was the first thing gone.

My other sister-in-law got all the ingredients for spam musubi ready and my son rolled them.

Team effort.

I made Japanese curry rice like this one, but I added some Japanese vegetables--daikon, renkon, kabocha, and gobo--to make it more festive.

The melon flavored cream-popsicles Garrett and Lena brought, as well as the mochi ice cream, were a big hit.

Yum!


The best part of the evening, of course, was seeing everyone and catching up with all that's happening in the family.

I am so appreciative of Mako and Meg for having the get-togethers on a regular basis and keeping everyone close.

Makes me want to do the same for my side of the family.



Thanks, Mako and Meg, see you next month!

No printable recipe yet.