Healthy Restaurant Style Chinese Greens
I have been asked too many times on how to make a simple Chinese greens dish Chinese restaurant style…so here it is. The secrets, tips, and recipe to make all your vegetables taste and look picture perfect, just like top Chinese/Cantonese chefs do.
The Best Chinese Greens
Chinese greens with oyster sauce is an easy dish to prepare but not many can make it right. I have seen too many overcooked vegetable dishes served at homes and even at restaurants.
Once you grasp the basic techniques and skills of making this dish, you can pretty much cook any vegetable or Chinese greens you want — choy sum, kai lan (Chinese mustard greens), bok choy/baby bok choy, or any green leafy vegetables.
Without further ado, I unveil the following secrets, tips and tricks.
Cook’s Tips on Making Chinese Greens
- Buy fresh vegetables – select the freshest greens available in your market, such as the baby bok choy shown in my pictures.
- Use garlic oil – I use a lot of garlic oil in my Chinese recipes. It adds a lot of depth to simple dishes and infuses the veggies with garlicky flavor and aroma.
- Use cooking oil wisely – Add a drop or two of cooking oil into the water before blanching the vegetables. The cooking oil coats the vegetables so they look fresh and green, not purple.
- Don’t kill your vegetables, they are already dead! – Don’t overcook your vegetables by leaving them too long in the boiling water. Perfectly blanched vegetables should be somewhat crunchy, not limp and wilted.
- Discard excess water from the vegetables before plating/serving – Drain the water from the vegetables so it doesn’t dilute the sauce. Excess water in the vegetables will make your vegetable dish watery.
Now that you have the chops, complete your Chinese meals with a plate of fresh, green, and delectable Chinese greens. Trust me, vegetables never look or tasted this good from now on.
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 18 calories per serving.
What Dishes to Serve with This Recipe?
For a wholesome meal and easy weeknight dinner, I recommend this dish paired with the following recipes.
5 Secrets to 20 Min Dinners
Get tricks for quick & easy meals!
Restaurant-style Chinese Greens with Oyster Sauce
Restaurant-style Chinese Greens with Oyster Sauce Recipe - Read my 5 quick tips on how to cook Chinese greens.
Ingredients
- Your favorite Chinese greens, I used 6 baby bok choy for my dish
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce, Lee Kum Kee brand preferred
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/4 teaspoon cooking oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 2 dashes white pepper powder
Garlic Oil:
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon oil
Instructions
- Prepare the garlic oil first by heating up your wok and stir fry the minced garlic until they turn light brown. Dish out and set aside.
- Heat up a pot of water and bring it to boil. Add two small drops of cooking oil into the water. Drop your vegetables into the boiling water and quickly blanch them for about 20-30 seconds (depends on the quantity). As soon as they turn slightly wilted, transfer them out and drain the excess water off the vegetables. Arrange the vegetables on a plate.
- In a wok, heat up the cooking oil, and then add the oyster sauce, water, sugar, and white pepper powder. As soon as the sauce heats up and blends well, transfer and drench it over the blanced vegetables. Top the vegetables with the garlic oil and serve immediately.
Notes
For the garlic oil, the garlic will continue to cook in the oil so as soon as they turn light brown in the wok, you should dish it out. Eventually, they will turn golden brown.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size
4 peopleAmount Per Serving Calories 18Total Fat 1gSaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 123mgCarbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g
Cindy
You recommend the Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce for this recipe. Is it the LKK Premiun oyster sauce or the LKK Panda Brand oyster sauce that you use?
Thank you.
Rasa Malaysia
Both fine.
Patricia
Great.
John
Great recipe. Used twice this week with Pak Choi and a Tatsoi. Will be my go to recipe for greens.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi John, thanks. Please try more recipes on my site, they are all very good: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Aileen
Delish! Lives up to its name! Simple and easy yet the flavours are all there and so put together. Thank you.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Aileen, awesome and thanks for trying my recipe. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
hellothesun
Your recipe blown the curiosity I have for so long time! Thank you for the recipe, the result is very nice! Thanks for the tips as well.
Rasa Malaysia
Thanks for trying this recipe. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Oliver Egloff
Had lots of fun trying it and result was awesome ! Please add to your recipe that for amateurs ; Be careful with hot oil while preparing the final sauce ! It jumped a bit everywhere at my first attempt !
Thank you again for the opportunity of learning ! :))
Oliver Egloff
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Oliver, thanks for trying my recipe. :)
Carol
Hi, I would appreciate it if someone would tell me how to get the dirt out. I noticed that the recipe shows the bok choy intact. I cut the end of the bok choy and rinsed but could not get all the dirt out. I ended up taking all the leaves apart to clean them properly.
Rasa Malaysia
Cut the stems off and soak in water.
Tom Scovill
Yum. Family give me top ratings for this recipe. Simple to cook. flavors are subtle and perfect dish to the rest of meal. Printed and added to our binder of favorite recipes – reserved for only the top 100 family recipes. Advise following the recipe, the greens only need a small amount of sauce.
Rasa Malaysia
Hi Tom, thanks for trying this recipe.
Macy
Cooked this dish the second time but i added about a teasepoon of sesame oil in the end. Sooo good! The sesame oil definitely made it even better. Thank you for the recipe :)
Ilanna
Made this with mustard greens and it was the first time I’ve really enjoyed eating them. Thank you!
michael
where is the recipe for this. ive looked all over your site and I cant find it
Rasa Malaysia
The recipe link is at the bottom of the page where it says RECIPE HERE:
https://rasamalaysia.com/restaurant-style-chinese-greens-with/2/