| Bok Choy: Clearly Confusing | |
by Judy Sobeloff, from the November 2006 newsletter
I wondered about writing about bok choy in November, as some small part of me (a tiny bone in my left foot, perhaps) believed I should be doing my share to promote this month’s national holiday. When Scott, Co-op Produce Manager, mentioned that “the neat thing about bok choy is that it’s part of the extended cabbage family,” suddenly I saw a shimmering light. I realized that I had found my subject, if, in writing about bok choy in November, I can go for a Co-op Two-fer: broadening definitions of extended family and promoting celebrating in non-traditional ways.
The name comes from the Chinese word for soup spoon, and indeed bok choy has rounded (spoonlike?) dark green leaves on top, with white stalks which resemble celery without the stringiness, or a hula skirt, according to my daughter. While the Co-op carries bok choy and baby bok choy (a smaller, slightly sweeter variety which can be cooked whole), over 20 varieties of bok choy are available in Hong Kong.
Widely used in Chinese cooking, bok choy is, I read, the most popular cabbage in Asian supermarkets. In fact, bok choy is sometimes referred to as “Chinese cabbage,” a reference made more confusing by the fact that Napa cabbage is called Chinese cabbage as well—and, get this, by the fact that “Chinese cabbage (pak choi or bok choy) is not cabbage but is actually Chinese chard” (www.homecooking.about.com).
Reading further, I felt as if I’d stumbled into somebody else’s extended math problem: “bok choy=Chinese chard=Chinese white cabbage=Chinese cabbage=Chinese mustard cabbage=pak choy=pak choi=baak choi=white mustard cabbage=white celery mustard” (www.foodsubs.com), and so on. Indeed, as I read elsewhere, “it’s clear that the confusion is warranted” (www.answers.com).
Fleeing this equation, I wandered into the kitchen where I had an unexpected bok choy/Chinese cabbage epiphany. There in our CSA box, lying among the potatoes and striped squash and anonymous dark leafy greens of mystery, lay a pale green leafy vegetable whose identity I suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt: Napa Cabbage. Here, in my very own home! I hurried away.
Later, realizing it might behoove me to cook a Napa Cabbage dish along with my requisite bok choy dish, I waved my hands in the air and hurried back, as fast as my little legs could carry me, like countless storybook heroes who’d crossed similar thresholds before me. I was stunned to discover the Napa Cabbage missing from its box, vanished as soon as I uncovered its identity. There on the stove sat a dish whipped up minutes before by Fred, henceforth to be called Fred’s Napa Cabbage Delight (a dish which requires merely that one’s significant other chop and saute a Napa Cabbage with oil, garlic, tamari, salt, and tofu). Clap your hands and spin around and see if this works.
While bok choy stalks can be eaten raw, bok choy can also be boiled, steamed, or stir-fried, with the leaves separated from the stalks, which take longer to cook. I must confess that it was this same Fred who concocted the bok choy dishes we enjoyed the following night, Stir-Fried Bok Choy and Miso Soup. Initially discouraged by liquid in the stir fry which never evaporated as scheduled (“slush,” as he called it), Fred was buoyed by my enthusiasm, as I found the slushy stir fry delicious and no doubt healthy to boot. “Yes,” he said, “it just shouts ‘super healthy.’” My mother, who had returned from a trip to China a few weeks before, said, “I haven’t had such good bok choy since I was in China.”
While the miso soup was tasty as well, we found it somewhat “busy,” and I had to admit I would have enjoyed it more without some of the vegetables, including the bok choy (not to be confused with any other cabbage or chard of any other name). “He then curled up on the floor like a cat and slept,” Fred said, and that was pretty much the end of the investigation.
Stir-Fried Cabbage (from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)
2 tablespoons peanut (preferred) or other oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
½ cup cut-up scallions, cut into 1-inch sections
2 pounds bok choy, cut into 1-inch sections, or other cabbage, cored and shredded
1 cup chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, or white wine or water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Minced chives for garnish
Heat a wok or large, deep skillet over medium-high heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the oil, and, almost immediately, the garlic, ginger, and ½ cup cut-up scallions. Cook, stirring, for about 15 seconds, then add the cabbage and turn the heat to high. Cook, stirring almost constantly, for 3 minutes, then add the liquid. Cook, stirring, until it evaporates and the cabbage is tender, about 5 minutes more. Add the soy sauce and turn off the heat. Season with salt and pepper if necessary, garnish, and serve.
Miso Soup (adapted from the Moosewood Collective’s THE MOOSEWOOD RESTAURANT COOKS AT HOME)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms (or use fresh or frozen shiitakes available at the Co-op)
2 medium carrots, sliced diagonally into ¼-inch-thick rounds (about 1 cup)
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1-1/2 cups shredded greens, such as bok choy, endive, Chinese cabbage, or spinach
2 tablespoons red miso
2 tablespoons light miso (or use 4 tablespoons of one type of miso if you prefer)
1 cake tofu
chopped scallions
crumbled toasted nori (optional)
If using dried shiitake mushrooms, place them in a heatproof bowl, cover with 1-1/2 cups boiling water, and set aside for about 10 minutes. In a soup pot, cover the carrots with 3-1/2 cups of the stock or water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the carrots are crisp-tender. If using dried shiitakes, drain and add their soaking liquid to the carrots and stock. Slice the shiitake caps into thin strips and add them to the soup. Stir in the greens and continue to simmer for about 5 minutes, until they are just tender or wilted. In a small bowl, blend both misos with the remaining ½ cup of stock. Cut the tofu into ½-inch cubes. Stir the miso mixture into the soup, add the tofu, and heat gently. Be careful not to let the soup boil. Garnish the soup with scallions, and with nori flakes if you wish.
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