(Chinese recipes, prepare authentic Chinese food now!)
Vegetables are healthy and great, but they are boring and hard to cook. Unlike protein (such as meat or fish), vegetables don’t have much flavor. In Chinese cooking, the key to cooking vegetable dishes lies in the creative use of side ingredients and sauces to bring out the taste and texture of vegetables.
Chinese love leafy greens: choy sum, kai lan, bok choy, gai choy, etc. In everyday Chinese meal, there is always a vegetable dish to complement other main dishes. In Chinese or Cantonese restaurants, Chinese vegetables are often served two ways: brown sauce (flavored with oyster sauce) or white sauce–a cooking style I am sharing with you today…
I used choy sum (菜心/油菜心) for this recipe–a very typical Chinese vegetable that you can get in any Asian stores. Choy sum is great with oyster sauce, but an occasional white sauce is awesome, too.
If you love Chinese recipes and wish to learn more about cooking vegetables, do master this Chinese vegetable recipe as it’s very versatile and goes well with most Chinese leafy greens.
Here is my recipe for choy sum with white sauce. Bon appetit!
Ingredients:
6-8 oz. choy sum or Chinese leafy greens
Some sliced carrots
6 medium-sized shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 inch ginger (peeled and sliced thinly)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
White Sauce:
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon corn starch
6 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Method:
Rinse the vegetables with water and drain the water dry. Mix the white sauce ingredients and set aside.
Heat up a wok and add the cooking oil until it’s smoking hot. Add ginger, stir-fry until light brown or aromatic. Add mushrooms and shrimp and do a few quick stir until the shrimps become half-cooked. Add vegetables into the wok and stir quickly. Transfer the white sauce mixture into the wok and continue to stir-fry until the sauce thickens. By then, the vegetables should be perfectly cooked, but not overcooked.
Dish out and serve immediately.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I have not cooked any Chinese vegetable with white sauce! I must give this a try!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Mrs. Engui - yes, you should try out this white sauce. Sometimes, brown sauce gets old and boring, so try this recipe out. :)
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Looks great! I love choy sum… and gai lan… and on choy… and bok choy…. I think the trick with veggies is not to overcook them. This is also great with some browned garlic and fish sauce with a squeeze of lime..
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I find it hard to cook greens. They either get undercooked or overdone in my wok ! When there is Choy Sum in my grocery bag, I usually make Choy Sum soup with fish balls. Choy Sum is a popular vegetable dish because the Chinese believe it is not a ‘windy’ food. Neither is is ‘heaty’ nor ‘cold’. That’s why invalids and mothers in confinement can include Choy Sum in their menu.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
June - thanks for your information about choy sum being a great vegetable. I will bear that in mind. :)
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Looks healthy.. Must try this.. Thansk for your post.
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Look healty.. Must try this.. Thanks for your post.
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Choy sum was the first Chinese green I fell in love with; it’s always available at the market, when some others are not, and occasionally I find it at my regular grocery store, too.
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I am confused…I’m trying to educate myself with chinese vegetables. Does choy sum look similar to bok choy? do they taste similar? I’m going to the Asian store this weekend for serious shopping.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Veron - no, choy sum is not bok choy. Here is how it looks: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumb_34/1134892618l6fan1.jpg
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love everything u did, but this one is a little lazy no?
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Suresh - what do you mean by lazy? Cooking is a chore, sharing a recipe with others is certainly not lazy as you think. This Chinese vegetable recipe is a simple and healthy recipe, not lazy.
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I need a bowl of white rice now!!!! So hungry after seeing your photo!!!
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Choi Sum is good. I think stir-fry is just great for vegs!!
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If I had a choice, I would choose white sauce over brown sauce :)
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We also have to have some sort of veggie dish (or two) with our meals :) Love the Chinese style ways of preparing veggies! Bok choy is the one I find most often in the markets but I’ll keep my eye out for choy sum as well!
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Oh wow, this looks delicious!
Although, I’ll have to disagree with you on one point. In my opinion, vegetables have lots of flavor - in contrast, I tend to find meat pretty tasteless, and in need of spicing up with veggies, herbs and spices. But then again, both my parents are vegetarian, and I’ve also grown up eating mostly vegetarian food.
I do have to ask a question. I’ve noticed that a lot of your recipes include fish sauce. I read somewhere that soy sauce makes a good substitute for fish sauce in recipes, and I was curious about your opinion on that. I think fish sauce is a more authentic ingredient in Thai and other East Asian foods, but I don’t eat seafood, and tend to avoid anything with a fishy taste, so I’d like to know how much that affects the flavor.
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Magycmyte - you can use salt instead of soy sauce.
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Yes, sometimes I am tired of eating vegetables because they all taste same. Your vegetables look very colorful and fresh.
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I forgot which wine to buy at the store and ended up with Shuang Jin Chiew. Can I use this instead? Rather - I’m going to use this instead and let’s see how my dinner turns out. :o) Hope to hear back from someone. PS I love your site, the recipes are wonderful and the photographs are so inspiring!
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
Hi Summer - I am not sure what is Shuang Jin Chiew, but you can always try. It doesn’t hurt. By the way, thanks for your kind comments about my recipes and photos. :)
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I tried this today, the first recipe i have done from this site. I left out the shrimp as i felt for a vegetarian dish today, and it was quick, easy to make and delicious. Excellent recipe, i really enjoyed it
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Rasa Malaysia replied:
This chinese vegetable recipe is indeed a quick and easy fix. Glad you enjoyed it :)
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