Hot and Sour Bok Choy Recipe

Hot and Sour Bok Choy

In-Season Spring Recipes Side Dishes

This dish is all about a balance of flavors and textures—the char of the bok choy, the sweetness of maple syrup and the sourness of tamarind. Puffed rice and fried garlic add a crunchy texture to the half raw, half charred Chinese cabbage. We get our bok choy from White Barn Farm or Freedom Foods Farm. The other ingredients are easily sourced at any local Vietnamese/Cambodian or well-stocked market.

March 30, 2014

Ingredients

SERVINGS: Serves 2 or 4.

6 heads young bok choy, quartered
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 pinch kosher or sea salt
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons tamarind juice (or apple cider)
1 teaspoon coriander seed, crushed
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon toban djan (Chinese chile bean sauce)
1 piece puffed rice cake, crushed
1 piece scallion, sliced thin
1 heavy pinch fried garlic (store bought or homemade)
2 turns freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat a cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed skillet until it is very hot. Add the bok choy without oil and let it char. Once the bok choy has blackened slightly, add the oil. (It will smoke a bit, so open a window.) Season with a heavy pinch of salt.

Add the vinegar, tamarind, coriander, maple syrup, and toban djan and let it cook for 30 seconds. Place the cabbage on a warm serving plate, and top with puffed rice, scallion, fried garlic and black pepper. Serve immediately.

Read the story:: Vegetable Matter: Bok Choy

Recipe courtesy of chef/owner James Mark, north, Providence.