Choy Sum

That is today’s question.

Lately I have been craving for some steamed or boiled Choy Sum just like they make it in the Chinese restaurant. While they may charge $10 Dollars for this simple dish I was not in the mind to folk over the 1000% markup for this dish (Hope that quick calculation was right… hehe)

Regardless It was easy enough to get the Choy Sum, Woolworths occasionally stock this very common Asian vegetable. while you can easily get this any decent asian grocer that have been come common sight at local shopping centers and streets.

Regardless where you buy it from you want a deep green coloured bunch. Be careful of very old stock, check the steams and see that still moist and not overly large. the larger the stems are they older they have been harvested. You do not want overly young stems either as they lack in flavour and texture.

Regardless preparing them is easy enough, just make sure you either have a steamer or a colander fits your boiling pot. Both ways to cook them achieve roughly the same results its the actual produce that will delight your taste buds. Fresh deep green vegetables are what your after.

If your boiling then just salt the water as you would pasta and boil the stems and leaves separately. This is to let them cook at there own pace, you do not want to over cook the leaves and have them come out of the water or steamer feeling like mush. Steams take roughly 4-5 minutes in boiling water and should feel slightly tender. Leaves should only take 2 minutes maximum and still fairly crisp.

Once they are done, just drain and serve. There are a few ways to serve Choy Sum; firstly just as is and soaked with soy sauce; secondly you can toss them though Oyster sauce and then lightly pour some soy sauce over them; and finally stir fry them quickly over a high heat with 3-4 table spoons of oyster sauce, garlic and ginger.

How ever you serve them, it is well worth the trouble and at most it will only take you 15 minutes to prepare and cook this very simple staple of vegetables.

Enjoy!