Pak Choi Explosion

All the Chinese greens that we planted in the tunnel have gone crazy. There are six rows requiring immediate eating.

One minute they were politely growing, very quickly admittedly, and the next it’s Wham Bam Eat Me Now or I’ll shoot up and flower.

It’s a lot of pak choi to eat at once. Luckily they are very fast and easy to prepare. It’s something that we ate a lot of in Malaysia, in fact we ate them at every opportunity being addicted to fresh greens. I used to have this notion that they were stir fried but I  discovered that the secret is to blanch the pak choi for thirty seconds then put it on a hot plate and pour over oyster sauce and hot garlic oil.  So simple, so yum and looks the business too.

3-4 baby pak choi per person

2tbs oyster sauce

2tbs water

1 tsp sugar

a pinch of ground white pepper

2 cloves garlic

2tbs oil

Put a big pot of water to boil

Chop the garlic finely, heat the oil in a wok or frying pan and gently fry the garlic until it’s lightly golden. Tip out of the pan and put aside – if you leave it in the pan it will continue cooking and might  burn.

When the water is boiling drop the pak choi in, submerge with the help of a wooden spoon and cook for 30 seconds. Drain into a colander and shake off any excess water. Arrange on a warm plate. Put the oyster sauce, water, sugar and pepper into small pan and cook at full heat. As soon as it boils pour it over the the pak choi. Drizzle the garlic oil on top and eat immediately.