Do Asian vegetables confuse you?
Don’t know your bok choy from your choy sum?
Neither do I, but when David Tanis, one of my favorite food writers, published this recipe for Glazed Shiitakes With Bok Choy in his New York Times column City Kitchen, I soon found myself at my local Vietnamese market sorting through the baby bok choy like a boss.
Tanis’ cooking bona fides are impressive. He was head chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and is currently the chef at mid-town Manhattan’s famed Monkey Bar. You know the Monkey Bar. In fiction, it is where Catcher In the Rye’s Holden Caulfield knocks back scotch and sodas.
Tanis is the author of multiple cookbooks and one of his cookbooks, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes, was chosen as one of the fifty best cookbooks of all time by the United Kingdom’s Guardian/Observer. You read that right…”of all time.”
Here is the Tanis recipe for Asian cabbage (bok choy) and umami-rich shiitake mushrooms in a sweet soy glaze. It is wonderful.
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 pound baby bok choy
- 2 T. vegetable oil
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms (stems removed and caps sliced)
- Salt and pepper
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 1/2 T. grated ginger
- 1 T. sugar
- 1 t. sesame oil
- 2 T. tamari or soy sauce
- 3 scallions (sliced diagnonally for garnish)
- 1/2 T. roasted sesame seeds for garnish
- Red peppers for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Prepare the bok choy by cutting off the stem ends. Separate the leaves. Wash thoroughly. Drop the leaves into boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes. The bok choy will be barely cooked and will be a pretty bright green. Remove from boiling water, rinse in cool water, drain and pat dry. Arrange the leaves on an ovenproof platter and set aside.
- Heat a large wok or cast-iron skilled over high heat. Add oil and heat the oil until it is very hot, almost smoking. Add the hot pepper flakes and the shiitake mushrooms to the pan and stir to coat in the oil. Add salt and pepper. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat slightly and add the garlic, ginger, sugar, sesame oil and tamari. Continue to stir fry for one more minute.
- Spoon the stir-fryed shiitake mushrooms and their juices on top of bok choy.
- Serve this dish at room temperature or slightly warm. If you want to serve it warm, cover it with foil and reheat it in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes.
- Garnish the dish with chopped scallions, sesame seeds and a couple of fresh red peppers.
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