Bok Choi is quick and easy! In just 15 minutes you can make simple yet delicious Pak Choi. All you need is baby bok choy, olive oil, garlic, scallions, and roasted salted cashews.
Sometimes the simplest things are the most beautiful, right?
My mom whipped up this quick and easy baby bok choi dish the other night. The bok choy was so good I had them made again the next day so I could watch, pad and pen in hand.
“How much pak choi is this momma?” She looks at me like I just asked her how many miles to the moon. I get the kitchen scales out of the closet.
What does baby bok choy taste like?
Bok choy is part of the cabbage family, but doesn’t have the same spiciness or spiciness that cabbage often has.
Cooked bok choi is mild and sweet. The leaves wilt like spinach while the stalks remain crisp-tender, a bit like celery. Baby bok choy is just smaller and more tender than regular bok choy.
Ways to customize this recipe
In this recipe we fry pak choi with spring onions and cashew nuts. Why cashew nuts? Because that’s what we had on hand. Almonds would work too!
If you like, you can spice up the pak choy with some freshly grated ginger and a shake of chili flakes.
Tips for preparing bok choy
- Look specifically for baby pak choywhich is smaller and better for stir-fries like this one.
- Buy bok choy with firm, crispy stems and light green leaves. Avoid bok choy with limp stems or browned, bruised areas.
- Rinse the pak choi thoroughly before cooking. As with celery and other vegetables, dirt can sometimes collect between the leaves.
- For preparing pak choi for cooking, break off the large outer leaves until you get to the small leaves clustered in the middle. Cut off the base but leave it intact to keep the small leaves together. You cook both the large outer leaves and these small inner leaves.
- Bok Choi cooks fast! It only takes about 5 minutes on the heat for the leaves to wilt and the stems to become tender.
More recipes with bok choy
- Baby bok choy with yellow peppers
- Fried chicken with baby bok choy
- Bok choy with sherry and prosciutto
- Soba noodle soup with chicken and bok choy
Baby bok choy with cashew nuts
ingredients
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2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
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1 cup chopped green onions, green ends included
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3 garlic cloves, chopped
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1 pound baby bok choy, rinsed, larger leaves separated from base, base trimmed but still in place, holding smaller leaves together
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1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
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Salt
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1/2 cup chopped, toasted, salted cashews
method
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Sauté onions, garlic, pak choi
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, then garlic, then pak choi. Sprinkle with sesame oil and salt.
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Cover and let the baby pak choy reduce
for about 3 minutes. (Like spinach, the bok choy will collapse a little as it cooks.)
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Remove cover. Reduce the heat to low
Stir and cook for a minute or two longer, until the pak choi is just cooked through.
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Gently stir in the roasted cashew nuts
