Baby bok choi
Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis
Similar veggies:
Bok choi, tatsoi
A quick introduction
Bok choi is one of the most widely known Asian greens and can easily be found in Dutch supermarkets (unlike most of the other Asian greens we grow). We started to grow a beautiful mini bok choi variety in fall that has light green stems and can be used in much the same way as its bigger brother.
Storage
As with all Asian greens we recommend washing baby bok choi in cold water (we do pre-wash it at the farm), then dry it and store in a closed container in the fridge. This way it will keep for almost a week.
Season
Spring and fall
Suggestions for preparation
Bok choi is great in stir-fries and adds great texture. We like to throw bigger chunks of bok choi into a very hot pan, sauté them for a minute or two, add finely chopped garlic and ginger and sauté all together for a few more minutes. Add some soy sauce at the end and take off the fire. This way the stems remain crunchy and add a nice texture to stir-fries or noodle soups.
Recipes
Here a great recipe for a lemongrass stir-fry by Nigel Slater that works will all kinds of different greens!
Make mapo tofu and serve it with steamed or stir fried bok choi and white rice.
How to stir-fry vegetables
Pad Thai: replace the Chinese cabbage for bok choi.
Replace the choi sum with bok choi for this black pepper chicken with soy butter (and the chicken with fried tofu if you would like a vegetarian version).
A tip from one of our members: “I often add bokchoi to a noodle soup with miso as a base. I lately made Oof Verschurens miso soup with kombu. Make a broth (use 10 grams of kombu and 20 grams of bonito flakes for 1,5 L of broth) and add 6 spoons of shiro miso. For a noodle soup you might want to add some chicken broth as well. It takes a few hours to make this, I use this recipe when I don’t have that much time.”
Another tip from one of our member: stir-fry vegetables with Korean gochujang chili paste. Quick and easy!