pak choi

Recipes using pak choi

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pak choi greens

Here is a quick and simple recipes using Pak Choi. Pak Choi is a mild tasting Chinese green. I have posted a blog on how to grow and harvest it here Growing and harvesting Pak choi There are easily found in supermarkets and Asian grocers here in London. If you go to asian/ chinese grocers the pakc hoi are available in different varieties. Some come in white and some in green stems.

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pak choi leaves

I find that the the pak choi variety in white stem are a more juicier as the stem are much more thicker than the green variety ones. There is also tatsoi which is another variety of pak choi. Alternatively you can use ordinary leafy greens, it will be a bit more tough in stems and leaves. So do use young stem if possible. There are other types of chinese greens that you can use instead for the below recipe chinese ‘choy sum’.

Nowadays pak choi are easily available to buy from any supermarkets here in the UK. So it is not necessary to go all the way to the chinese grocers just to buy pak choi.  I get my weekly shopping done on Waitrose as they provide great customer service and the food is always fresh. It just saves me lugging a load of shopping from the supermarket going up the slope.

white stem pak choi

Recipes using pak choi

I am using my homegrown Pak Choi the leaves are quite young and tender compare to the ones you get from the shop. Therefore it will need less cooking time. They are good clear chicken broth or soup noodles. Recipe here Chicken noodle soup
Also in salads as leaves are young and tender. Recipe here pak choi and gem lettuce salad

Another quick recipe (‘yau choy’)

Pak Choi with oyster sauce

100 grms Pak Choi (2-3 persons) wash and slice into 3cm thickness

1 teaspoon oyster sauce

One teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon fried onions (home made or ready made)

Cooking

Just blanch the Pak Choi in a pot of hot water just for a 3 minutes. Depends on how tender you want them. Take them out plunge them in cold water to stop further cook and keep its crunch. Once it’s been plunge it does make it cold to eat. Another idea is not to put them in cold water. However it would not be  crunchy though.

It is possible to cook them on a steamer which is put in a rice cooker. Then drizzle with a bit of sesame oil, oyster sauce.

If there is any fried onions around sprinkle with a bit of them on top. This is a very common home cook and restaurant vegetable side dish recipe. A chinese cantonese dish my mum used to cook them a lot.

I will posting more ways to cook pak choi so keep an look out for more recipes to come. All the best to your cooking and thank you for stopping by.

Download here for free pdf  chicken noodle recipe

cooking pak choi 3 ways
how to cook pak choi
how to cook pak choi
cook pak choicooking with pak choirecipes using pak choi

Chicken noodle soup

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Here is a recipe using pak choi which I have grown in my garden (chinese leafy green). This is a all in one pot cook recipe chicken noodle soup.

Makes about 3-4 portions

Ingredients

1 packet (250 grms) of dried egg noodles (it is possible to use fresh egg pasta noodles
4 medium size chicken thighs and legs (with bones on), skin remove if you like
1 medium size onion (peeled and chop into quarters)
One medium size carrot (slice or chop into chunks)
1 medium size leek or 2 stalks of celery cut into chunks

1 medium size carrot
For more umami (depth of flavour) add about 2 pieces of dried scallops, or 3 pieces of dried oysters if you have them on hand. They are sold in asian grocers at least I know the scallops are. Japanese seaweed do add umami flavour as well, it’s use as a garnish rather than in the broth. One piece of large size seaweed will do for 4 portions
200 grms pak choi washed and slice into 2cm thickness  (alternatively you can use leafy green vegetable)
3 stalk of spring onions sliced finely (optional)
3-4 medium size eggs
Fried onions to garnish
2 stalks of spring onions chopped finely

Chicken stock

Make the chicken stock by putting the chicken thighs and legs, chopped onion, and carrots. Put them in pot about 1.5 litres of water. If you have any leek or celery put them in together. Add about 2 liters of water. Bring to boil, once boil skimp off any impurities. Let to boil for an hour or so when the chicken flesh starts to separate from the bone.

Then add the eggs and dried noodles into the broth. Boil for 3 minutes then add the pak choi. Cook for another 1 minute.

Dish out in a bowl and serve with some fried onions and spring onions (optional). Break the eggshells and serve the partially cooked egg with the noodles.

For a free pdf of this recipe.  chicken noodle soup
chicken noddle soupchicken noodle soup

chicken noodle soup

Growing and harvesting Pak choi

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pak choi

Growing and harvesting Pak choi.

It’s been a while since I last posted anything about a homegrown vegetable. The growing season is coming to an end. Not unless one does have a heated greenhouse and grow lights it is not easy to extend the growing season. I have sowed Pak Choi seeds back around in mid to end of August and how much they have grown!!

Pak Choi also is known as Bok Choi, Pak Choy are all the same it’s just spelled in different forms. In Chinese simplified, it is written as 白菜 . Pronounce as baicai. After translation, it means white vegetable. Probably because some varieties the stem are white in colour.

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Growing

I have grown them in pots as I have do not have any more room on the raised beds. The seeds can be obtained online. I got mine from eBay and also from Thompson and Morgan (an online retailer). In spring and summer, one can find young plants in garden centres.

They are easy they grow, they don’t tolerate too much direct sun as they will bolt (goes into producing flowers instead of growing more leaves) easily. They do well in between season of summer and autumn where the weather is getting cooler. Some gardeners say apparently they are frost tolerate till -5 degree ?!! Perhaps only when they well established not young seedlings. After sowing the seeds all it needs to grow is some very drain compost or soil.



They do bolt (got into flowering rather than produce more leaves) easily in hot weather. So rather than growing them in the summer try to grow them in autumn instead. They don’t require much sunlight so grow them partial shade.

Harvesting

Harvest the leaves as they grow as it will provide a constant supply of leaves till they stop producing anymore leaves.  They are different varieties of pak choi one can find in the market green or purple to grow.

Here are 3 different types of variety from Thompson & Morgan Tricolour mix. Thompson & Morgan is a UK base largest mail order seeds and plants supplier. I use to think that their seed is on the pricey side. They also have a US based company called Gurneys.com I have never use Gurneys.com as most seed suppliers don’t normally send seed outside the US. Here more information about Thompson & Morgan delivery

The pak choi in the photos here are of the green F1 variety and Pak choi white F1 variety.  Both are distinctive in their stem Some Pak choi white F1 variety can be much more juicier than the Pak choi green variety.

They also can be grown indoors by a sunny spot in containers.

It’s a mild tasting vegetable, the young pak choi leaves are great in salads. The older ones are better if it’s like on stir fry or noodles or soups. Will post recipes on them soon. Here is this link on recipes using pak choi.

growing and harvetsing pak choi