Baby Bok Choy

I can barely resist Baby Bok Choy.  I pretty much buy it every time I see it.  So many different ways to mess with it and use it but probably the best way is very simple.  Just a bit of blanching and the right sauce and you are in business.   Goes great with some rice and some protein.  I'll go over what else I made with this lovely veggie in another post, but I figured this was as good a place to start as any.

One reason I broke down and finally started this blog was I was trying to explain to a Yelp friend how I cook with these and that got me thinking about starting this blog.  So you can blame him.

One thing is to get going is a pot of water with some salt.  I never really know how much water to use, I just look at the amount of bok choy I have and fill it up so it looks like it will be covered when I throw them in.  (cont.)

While the water is heating up you want to wash these puppies.  They almost always come with a fair bit of dirt.

Throw them in a colander and hold each one under some flowing water. Open the leaves a little bit and rub the dirty parts with your fingers. I usually do this twice. Believe me it is way better to take the time to do this right than to end up with sand in your veggies.  Plus, what else are you doing?  Waiting for the water to boil that is what!  So just wash them.

Once the water comes up to a boil and you have your washed bok choy throw them in the pot and cover to allow it to come back up.  I usually have them in the pot for about 4 minutes from this point. Any longer they are mush, shorter you can be crunchy and that is ok, but you'll have to experiment with what works for you.

While that 4 minutes is ticking away, I get out the dish I'm going to serve these in.  A big soup bowl works great.  Pour in some light soy into the dish, just enough to cover the bottom plus a dash more.  This is going to be the base of the sauce so more or less add how much sauce you want to end up with.

Once the 4 minutes are up, strain the bok choy with a colander or a spider strainer and deposit into your serving dish.  Then pour some dark soy on top, just a bit, again it is a judgment call and something to play with.  The dark soy I use is almost like a thin syrup especially compared to the light one.  I prefer to use pearl river bridge soy sauce.  Look for it, find it, you'll be happy.

 I know you are probably saying "he is just putting boiled greens with soy, what is the big deal about that?"  The secret is in the next bit.    Chop up a medium sized shallot and heat about 2 table spoons of oil.  I like to use Pea nut oil, but a decent vegetable oil will do, but do NOT use olive oil.  You want something with a higher smoke point.  

The shallots should be a nice small dice, but don't lose sleep over it.  The idea is to make some quick and dirty shallot oil.  When the oil you are heating gets to about  340F or so throw the shallots in.  You should get a great oniony aroma.  Leave them in there for about 5-10 seconds, but don't burn them.  Poor the oil onto the baby bok choy.  If you've done this correctly you'll get a neat sizzle as the hot oil hits the greens.  Don't let the oil cool, don't mess with the shallots, just get it on the greens!  There is something about putting the hot oil on the greens in this way that adds a depth of flavor.

I need to work on my pictures as I'm not totally thrilled with how this looks.  But it is a trick to take pictures while you are cooking!  Anyways, this is what you end up with.  You have this lovely salty sauce that is rich from the shallot oil and just dip any of the greens that aren't totally covered in it and eat with some rice.  Got to love it.