Garlic Baby Bok-Choy

This is a steamed dish! It is best enjoyed on rice or asian noodles (mine's on Somen noodles! Somen is kind of like Japanese Angel-hair Pasta).You'll need a pan that is good for sauteeing and has a lid. I use a medium sized wok with a lid, but have used basic tools such as a frying pan and a ceramic plate... they all work, so if you don't have a wok, I suggest...improvise! (lol)

This recipe also calls for some ingredients that you might not know. I'll try to explain how they can be replaced or omitted.

From left to right: Sake, mirin, shichimi pepper blend, shoyu

Sake - if you've been to an "Asian" restaurant, you've probably seen it on the menu. It's just rice wine, and can be easily replaced with a dry white wine.

Mirin - it's the Japanese equivilant of cooking wine. Mirin is simply sweetened sake. Replace with: dry white wine or sake with a dash of added sweetener. A tsp or tbsp of powdered sugar works miracles here.

Shoyu - the proper term for Soy Sauce. Avoid any soy sauce/shoyu that has preservaties or added ingredients. The best shoyu has any combination of the above: Water, Soybeans, Seasalt, and sometimes wheat.

Shichimi Pepper - it's Japanese 7-pepper blend. It's kind of like Chinese 5-spice blend, only used specifically to add HEAT to a dish. If it's just a sprinkle, it won't add a too much heat at all, but it does pack a good flavor.

 

The ingredients all diced up!

Chopped bok-choy

3 heads of bok choy might seem like a dauntingly large amount, but remember that when cooking greens, they always wilt and become very small and condensed.

Garlic Baby Bok Choy
(serves 1 or 2)

ingredients:
1 tsp sesame oil
3 baby bok choy
4 small cloves garlic
1 silver-dollar/thumb sized chunk of fresh ginger
3 green onions
2-3 shiitake mushrooms
1 handful / 1/2 cup of shredded carrot

spice/toppings: (optional)
shichimi pepper blend
sesame seeds

sauce:
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp sake
2 tbsp shoyu

thickener:
1 1/2 tsp - 1 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp soymilk or cold water


INSTRUCTIONS

Dice garlic & ginger into small pieces. Chop green onions into 3/4" slices. Chop shiitake mushrooms into thin slices. Separate bok choy - bottoms (thicker part) into 3/4" chunks, and tops (greens) into thinner slices.

Heat sesame oil in pan on medium heat. Sautee garlic and ginger until strongly fragrant. add carrot and heat for a minute. After that, add mushroom, green onion, and the BOTTOMS of the bok choy. Sautee until the bok choy appears wilted.

Combine the "sauce" ingredients & add to the pot. Notice that it will start to steam. QUICKLY add the lid. As it continues to sautee, the sauce will basically "steam" the ingredients. STEAM for about 5 - 8 minutes, depending on how crunchy or soft you want it to be.

After steaming, remove the lid; add the TOPS of the bok choy and mix well. Heat through until the tops are decently wilted.

After the tops are wilted, add the soymilk-cornstarch mixture to the sautee while stirring continuously. It will quickly thicken. (the more cornstarch you use, the thicker it will become). Don't heat/stir for too long, or the starch will unbind. A minute should do just fine.

After that, take off of heat and pour on top of noodles or rice. Top with shichimi pepper blend and/or sesame seeds.