Everything You Need To Know About Baby Bok Choy
Baby bok choy is a type of cabbage, originally from China that has green leaves, with thick white stems. With its sweet flavor and crisp texture, baby bok choy works well with a variety of foods. It is a fantastic addition to stir fries and is delicious when pureed with lemongrass to make soup. Available at most major supermarkets all year round, we recommend that you try this versatile veggie at home if you haven’t before.
How to Select
Look for firm stalks that are free of brown spots, wilted or broken leaves, limp stalks, and discolouration.
How to Store
When wrapped in paper towels, or unwashed in a plastic bag and stored in the vegetable crisper section of the refrigerator, baby bok choy should keep for up to 5 days.
How to Prepare
Baby Bok Choy is very easy to prepare, just chop off ¼ to ½ inch of the stalk and separate the leaves while washing to make sure there is no grit caught between the leaves.
When the time comes to start cooking, you’ll find that baby bok choy is extremely adaptable; boiling, steaming, stir-frying and even deep-frying are all possibilities.
How to Boil: 3 – 4 minutes for the stalks, 1 – 1 1/2 minutes for leaves.
How to Steam: Steam for about 6 minutes for the stalks, 2 – 3 minutes for leaves
How to Stir-fry: about 5 minutes for stalks, 2 minutes for leaves – the leaves should be just wilted and bright green.
How to Freeze: We do not recommend that you freeze baby bok choy
Tips
- Use it as a substitute for cabbage.
- If the baby bok choy is especially dirty washing it multiple times is recommended.
- The flavour of baby bok choy pairs very well with garlic, when you first add oil to your pan you should add minced garlic to the pan as soon as the oil is heated.
What it goes well with
Cashews, carrots, ginger, garlic, bell peppers, cabbage, eggplant, scallions, lemongrass, orange, lemon, green onions, onions, mushrooms, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, shrimp, beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, and fermented black beans.
Serving Ideas
- As a side dish, baby bok choy tastes great roasted whole in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Why not try our recipes for a classic stir fry or garlic stir fried baby bok choy?
Nutrition
Baby bok choy is a good source of vitamin C, fiber and sulfur-containing phytonutrients that help with antioxidant activity and detoxification. Bok choy is rich in minerals, including calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium.
