There are literally hundreds of different varieties of Chinese cabbage. The most common and diversely used is bok choy. Bok choy, with its long white crisp stalks and large dark green leaves can usually be found in the produce section of your local grocery store. When shopping for this wonderful cabbage make sure that the stalks are firm and white, and that the leaves are nice and green and not wilted.

Bok choy can be cooked in a variety of ways, and can be used in almost any dish. It can be steamed, broiled, stir fried, and even eaten raw chopped into a salad. It has a very mild cabbage flavor, and the texture of the stalk is similar to that of celery. The best part about this Chinese cabbage is that it takes on the wonderful flavors of the spices and sauces that it is cooked in. The recipe below is a perfect example of how bok choy can take on flavor. Here it is stir fried in a hot and spicy sauce. For those of you who enjoy just a light spicy flavor, simply leave out the chili oil and use only 2 tablespoons of the hot chili garlic sauce. Let me know what you think of this recipe in the forum. Enjoy!

1 large head of bok choy
1 tbsp peanut oil
½ tsp chili oil
3 tbsp hot chili garlic sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 ½ tsp cornstarch

1. Begin cleaning the bok choy by cutting off the bottom base. This separates the stalks so that you can rinse them individually. Rinse them in cold water, shake the excess water off, and then wipe them dry with an absorbent paper towel. The base of the bok choy can be discarded.


2. Cut the bok choy into 1 inch pieces. Slice the stalks as you would celery, and chop up the leaves.


3. In a large non stick pot or wok, heat both oils on high. Add the bok choy and chili garlic sauce and stir fry for 6 minutes. Many stir fry recipes call for the stalks to be stir fried first and then the leaves. This is simply so that the leaves and the stalks remain bright and crisp. It takes about 3 minutes for the leaves to cook and 6 minutes for the stalks. In this recipe however I combine them for simplicity.


4. Once the bok choy has been stir fried, add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.


5. Mix the cornstarch with just a little water so that it dissolves. Then add this mixture to the bok choy and stir until thick.


6. This makes a delicious side dish served along salmon or almost any fish entree with white rice. Makes about 4 servings.