Cookbook:Bok Choy
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Cookbook | Recipes | Ingredients | Basic foodstuffs | Vegetable | Brassicas
Bok choy (Cantonese) (also: bok choi, bai cai (Mandarin, 白菜, white vegetable), pak choi and pak choy and sometimes ambiguously known as Chinese leaves) is a green leafy vegetable used in Chinese and South-east Asian cooking. It has a firm white stem, dark green leaves, and a faintly bitter taste. There are a number of different related varieties, some of which have green stems and lighter-green leaves. It is actually a member of the cabbage family (brassica chinensis, or brassica campestris, Chinensis group). Unlike a conventional western cabbage, the heads are very loose and fan outward instead of close in on themselves.
Both the stems and leaves can be used, but the stems take a little longer to cook (though still very little time). It can be steamed, stir-fried, boiled, or even deep-fryed. Baby bok choy can even be used raw in a salad if the leaves are very small.
When substitution is required, a mixture of celery and spinach will often work well.
Bok choy is related to:
- choy sum - 1"-wide stalks with some vertical spacing, less bitter, less likely to be damaged due to smaller size
- yu choy - 0.4"-diameter branching stems, rarely sold, may include flowers
- Chinese cabbage - tight head (Pekinensis group), very common
