At our first summer CSA pick up we were giving out huge beautiful heads of bok choi, which is one of my favorite greens, but was received with many inquiring questions of what to do with it. Remember you can search our older recipes by just typing in the search field. But here are some additional wonderful ideas. I Love Bok Choi, and I hope it will grow on you too, it is so versatile, subtle, juicy yet crisp and yummy. Choi is used in stir fry, so if you have a favorite way to throw together veggies, don’t forget the choi! At the bottom is nutrition information on choi.
Bok Choi with Peanut Butter
This is super simple but pleasing to the kids, just substitute bok choi for the more common used celery, yummy!
Mango Bok Choi Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 mango, peeled and diced
- 1/2 cup of thinly sliced bok choi stems
- 1/4 cup of very finely chopped greens from the bok choi
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno
- 1/3 cup diced red onion
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves
- Salt and pepper
Directions
Combine the mango, bok choi, jalapeno, red onion, lime juice and cilantro leaves and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Great with fish, burritos, nachos, or just about anything, try throwing in a little avocado if you have one or even cucumber too!!
Sauteed Bok Choy
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 organic white onion, chopped
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1 head of bok choy, bottoms removed
Start a medium sautee pan on medium low heat and add the butter, oil, onions and garlic to the pan. Let that cook until the onions and garlic begin to get color. Add the bok choy and cover for 3 minutes. Uncover and let cook for about 2 more minutes or until tender. Season with salt and pepper.
Grilling Bok Choi
Ingredients
- 1 (2 pound) head of bok choy
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon paparika
- 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (such as LAWRY’S®)
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate.
- In a bowl, mix butter, garlic powder, paprika, and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper. Slice the bottom off the head of bok choy, and remove and clean the stalks. Sprinkle seasoned salt and 1 teaspoon of black pepper over both sides of the stalks.
- Lay the bok choy stalks on the preheated grill. Brush with seasoned butter mixture, cover the grill, and cook until the bok choy stalks show grill marks and the leaves are crisp at the edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn the bok choy, brush with butter mixture, cover, and grill the other sides. Brush with any remaining butter mixture, and remove to a platter to serve.
Bok Choi Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/3 cup white sugar or honey, you can even use stevia instead
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 Tbl sesame oil
- 1 bok choy, cleaned and sliced
- 1 bunch green onions, chopped
- 1/8 cup slivered almonds, toasted
- 1/2 (6 ounce) package chow mein noodles
Directions
- In a glass jar with a lid, mix together oils, vinegar, sugar or honey, and soy sauce. Close the lid, and shake until well mixed.
- Combine the bok choy, green onions, almonds, and chow mein noodles in a salad bowl. Toss with dressing, and serve.
Bok Choy Chicken Salad
2 Tbsp. sugar (you can always substitute some other sweetener for sugar)
3 packages Ramen noodles, crushed (discard seasoning packet)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup slivered almonds (3-4 oz.)
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 large head bok choy, chopped
4-5 green onions, sliced
4 cooked chicken chopped
Dressing:
3/4 cup oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
In a medium bowl, combine crushed ramen noodles, almonds, sesame seeds and sugar. Stir to mix. Drizzle melted butter over and stir well to coat all the noodles. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden, stirring occasionally. Cool completely.
In a measuring cup, combine all dressing ingredients and whisk well to dissolve sugar.
Combine chopped bok choy, onions and chicken in a large bowl. Add cooled noodle mixture and pour dressing over salad. Stir well to coat all vegetables, chicken and noodles.
- Bok choy is one of the popular leafy-vegetables very low in calories. Nonetheless, it is very rich source of many vital phyto-nutrients, vitamins, minerals and health-benefiting anti-oxidants.
- 100 g of bok choy provides just 13 calories. It is one of the recommended vegetable in the zero calorie or negative calorie category of foods which when eaten would add no extra weight to the body but in-turn facilitate calorie burns and reduction of weight.
- Like other brasisca family vegetables, bok choy contains certain anti oxidant plant chemicals like thiocyanates, indole-3-carbinol, lutein, zeaxanthin, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Along with dietary fiber, vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon, and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or “bad cholesterol” levels in the blood.
- Fresh pak choi is an excellent source of water-soluble antioxidant, vitamin-C (ascorbic acid). 100 g provides 45 mg or 75 % of daily requirements of vitamin C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
- It has more vitamin A, carotenes, and other flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidants than cabbage,cauliflower…etc. Just 100 g of fresh bok choy provides 4468 IU or 149% of daily-required levels vitamin A.
- Pak choi is very good source of vitamin K, provides about 38% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K has potential role in bone metabolism by promoting osteotrophic activity in bone cells. Therefore, enough vitamin K in the diet makes your bone stronger, healthier and delay osteoporosis. Further, vitamin-K also has established role in curing Alzheimer’s disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
- Fresh bok choy has many vital B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish.
- It also contains good amount of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme,superoxide dismutase. Iron is required for the red blood cell formation.
