STIR FRIED PAK CHOI WITH GARLIC



This is my second favourite Chinese vegetable, after choy sum! And once again, makes me miss Hong Kong so much! But what's great is that in the last couple of years as Lisbon has become more international, pretty much all supermarkets have begun to sell "Shanghai pak choi" (one of the two types of pak choi). So it's not like I have to run around the city searching for it in special imported food stores. 

This veggie has many spellings in English: pak choi, bok choy or pok choi. It's also usually referred to as "Chinese cabbage". In Cantonese pak choi means "white vegetable". 

It has a flavour between spinach and water chestnuts, but is slightly sweeter, with a mildly peppery undertone. The green leaves have a stronger flavour than the white bulb. Pak choi evolved in China, where it has been cultivated since the 5th century AD.

My favourite way of preparing pak choi is just doing a simple stir fry. It's so easy and only takes a few minutes to prepare.

Enjoy! 💗Helena


INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 pak chois
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 tablespoons hot water
  • Sea salt
  • Sunflower or peanut oil 


DIRECTIONS:
  1. Slice off end and cut each vegetable into quarters and rinse in water. 


  2. Slice garlic cloves into thin slices. 
  3. Pre-heat wok to medium heat.
  4. Add oil.
  5. Stir fry garlic for 10-15 seconds. 

  6. Add the pak choi. 


  7. Add the hot water. 

  8. Turn up the heat to high.
  9. Stir fry for about a total of 3 minutes until the roots are translucent. 

  10. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle sea salt. Ready to serve. 



Comments