Let’s Cook! Vietnamese Bok Choy and Mushrooms

Bok Choy and Mushrooms

When I get a new cookbook I tend to read my way through it and use little sticky-notes to mark the recipes that look most interesting and ones that I want to come back to…

About a year ago I got a copy of “Vietnamese Home Cooking” by Charles Phan of San Francisco’s Slanted Door restaurant and it turned out to be one of those cookbooks that in addition to having great-sounding recipes, it also is a “good-reading” cookbook with lots of stories and information. And yes, there were a lot of sticky-notes stuck in this book…

As it turned out, one of the simplest recipes from this book has inspired my version you’ll see here, and it’s a recipe both Bonnie and I come back to over and over, and when you try it I think you may do the same!

So dear Dedicated Readers, let’s head into the kitchen and Let’s Cook!

Bok Choy and Mushrooms

Ingredients

The vegetation…

3 Tbl  Canola Oil

2 Tsp  Minced Garlic

1/2-3/4 Lb  Fresh Mushrooms of your choice (I usually use Oyster Mushrooms when I can, and the original recipe calls for baby Shiitake, but I’ve made with Cremeni/Bella with good results as well, so most any type, or a mix, will work)

3/4-1 Lb  Baby Bok Choy (or regular size if that’s what you can get your hands on)

Saucy stuff…

2 Tbl  Rice Wine (from the Asian market, or Dry Sherry from the grocery/liqueur store works really well too)

2 Tbl  Fish Sauce (from the Asian market, or you can find now at many bigger groceries)

1 Tbl  Chicken Broth (or veggie broth or water)

Procedure

First prep your veggies: slice the mushroom caps into two or three pieces depending on the size of the cap – you want nice bite-size pieces. If using a button-type ‘shroom, slice into 1/4″ or so thick pieces.

Separate the baby bok choy into leaves (you can leave the smaller core section whole except for trimming the root end as needed). Cut the the larger outer leaves into a couple of pieces or more – again you want a good bite-size piece. If using regular bok choy cut into pieces one to two inches in length.

Wash the bok choy well to get rid of any dirt/grit, especially at the root end. The pieces don’t have to be perfectly dry as a little bit of water on them will help them to steam when cooking.

Heat your wok over med-high to high heat and add the oil. When its shimmers add the garlic and stir for just a few seconds, then add the mushrooms.

Stir-fry for about a minute until the mushrooms start to get soft.

Add the bok choy and the wine and mix together well.

Add the fish sauce and broth and continue to stir-fry for another couple of minutes until the bok choy is just tender. If not as tender as you’d like, put a lid on the wok and let steam for a bit until done to your liking.

Remover from the heat an put into a serving bowl.

Bok Choy and Mushrooms (here with rice and roasted chicken)

This is perfect with sticky rice to soak up the sauce (I like this a bit “saucy”, and this is a fairly thin sauce, if you want it thicker you can add a bit of cornstarch/water slurry to thicken it up). It makes a really nice side to a simple chicken or fish entree, and I’ve even had it by itself just with rice – all the mushrooms give it a meaty texture (the original recipe calls for a much smaller proportion of mushrooms to bok choy).

Just a few simple ingredients combined in just a few minutes to make a really great dish! I think you’ll like this one!

Back to the kitchen!