Status: 09/19/2022 1:37 PM
With its great flavor, Pak Choi is ideal for Asian cuisine. The vegetable is related to Chinese cabbage and is also known as mustard cabbage.
Visually, pak choy looks a bit like Swiss chard, but it tastes very different. The white stems have a very slight spice, and are especially effective in Asian dishes. Therefore, pak choy is very popular as an ingredient in wok roasted dishes. But the taste of soft cabbage is also great as an ingredient in vegetable soups, baked in the oven or raw in salads.
Prepare pak choy properly
Pak choi goes well with noodles, for example in an Asian-inspired vegetable soup.
Before processing, first cut the woody stem and possibly also the outer leaves. Wash well and cut leaves and stems separately. The stems take much longer than the leaves to cook, so always fry or boil the stems first, it takes about four minutes – this keeps the vegetables clean. Add the leaves at the end. They just have to collapse for a while and be ready in just a minute or two.
Pak choy is often prepared in a frying pan or skillet. Simply fry in oil and season with Asian flavors, such as coriander, ginger, lemongrass, and soy sauce. To make vegetable soup or ramen specializing in Japanese noodle soup, fry pak choy first. Then add the broth and season it as desired.
pak choy as a side dish or salad
Raw pak choy goes well with olives, tomatoes or avocados.
Alternatively, Pak Choi can be prepared in a similar way to spinach or chard, for example as an accompaniment to poultry or lamb. To do this, fry the cabbage briefly or fry it with a few cubes of onions. Cabbage can also be well processed, for example with potatoes and minced meat in a casserole baked with cheese in the oven.
Raw pak choy also tastes good as a crunchy salad: chop the leaves and stems into small pieces and use them like lettuce, mixing with other vegetables as you like. Soak in classic oil and vinegar.
Buying and storing pak choy
Although pak choy originally comes from Asia, our vegetables are available all year round. Goods often come from Dutch greenhouse cultivation. Pak choy comes outdoors from June to November. When you buy cabbage, it should be crisp and firm, with no wilted parts or brown spots. Consume pak choy as soon as possible. They will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, ideally wrapped in a damp cloth.
Grow your pak choy
If you plant pak choy only in late summer, the plants grow densely and compactly.
If you have a garden, you can easily grow Asian cabbage yourself. Pak choy is completely insensitive, needs a sunny to semi-shady location and can be brought forward or planted directly outdoors. Since pak choy is one of the so-called short-day plants, the ideal time for sowing is relatively late (mid-July to early August). If there is a lot of light and heat, it goes off very quickly.
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