Chinese Vegetables (Choy Sum)

(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!

How Many Calories per Serving?

This recipe is only 96 calories per serving.

What to Serve with This Recipe?

Serve this dish with other Malaysian dishes. For a Malaysia meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend the following recipes.

Butter Prawn

Napa Cabbage Stir Fry

Asian Five-Spice Chicken

Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup

Yield: 4 people

Chinese Vegetables (Choy Sum)

Print

In Chinese or Cantonese restaurants, Chinese vegetables (choy sum) are often served two ways: brown sauce or white sauce--a recipe I am sharing with you today.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 6-8 oz. (170 g-226 g) choy sum or Chinese leafy greens
• Some canned button mushrooms, sliced
• Some sliced carrots
• 6 medium-sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 inch (2 cm) ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

White Sauce:

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce, to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon shaoxing wine
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

1. Rinse the vegetables with water and drain the water dry. Mix the white sauce ingredients and set aside.
2. 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.
3. Dish out and serve immediately.

Nutrition Information

Yield

4

Serving Size

4 people
Amount Per Serving Calories 96Total Fat 7gSaturated Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 23mgSodium 431mgCarbohydrates 4gSugar 2gProtein 3g