Whether you call it bok choy, pak choi, pok choi or Shanghai greens, "Food Guys" Jon Jackson and Greg Patent think you should incorporate more of this adaptable, aroma-less Chinese cabbage into soups, stir-frys, stews and side dishes. After all, it's been around for 10,000 years.
Greg loves the role of bok choy in the Chinese dish, lion's head, a stew that includes gigantic, half-pound pork meatballs, browned in a paste of cornstarch. The meatballs are added to a casserole with chicken stock and bok choy, then baked for a couple of hours. "Everything melts together; the bok choy pieces stay intact but become soft and really flavorful from the pork and chicken," Greg says.
Here's a link to a recipe for lion's head meatballs with vermicelli.
For something lighter, baby bok choy works well as a braised side dish. Simmer several heads, covered, for twenty minutes in a flavorful liquid with seasonings like ginger, and serve one head per person.
Don't forget to rinse the stalks of bok choy, where soil will have accumulated. Like all cabbages, it's very nutritious, with great taste, an aura of freshness, and a cool aroma and feel.
Jon asks, "I wonder how we ever did without it?"
(Broadcast: "The Food Guys," 7/27/14 and 1/27/19. Listen weekly on the radio at 11:50 a.m. Sundays, or via podcast.)