Bok Choi in the Wok

This is an easy and quick to prepare dish. In general, i like cooking in the Wok more and more. It's fantastic to blend flavors and because of the high heat, veggies still stay crispy. There's also almost nothing you could do wrong here and you'll have a delicious and simple dish within minutes.





for 2 people:

Ingredients:

big bowl full of bok choi (i used baby bok choi from Ranch 99)
4 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 inch piece of galangal (thai ginger), peeled and sliced (optional)
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
fresh chilies, finely sliced (amount depends on how spicy you like it)
1 tablespoon fish sauce
freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon corn starch (optional)



Instructions:

Start by preparing a bit of chicken stock. Check out my previous post here to read more about the type of stock I use. Keep it simmer over low temperature. Mix in the corn starch.

Place a wok over a gas cooker. Since I only have a really old electric stove, and wok's don't do well on electric, I bought myself a portable gas stove. I love the Iwatani Cassette Feu Model ZA-3 which was available at Mitsuwa Supermarket.

Heat the oil over medium heat and add the sliced ginger, galangal, the garlic and chilies. Sauté everything for a few minutes to mix the flavors. Then turn the heat to the maximum and add the bok choi, stirring everything well together. Add fish sauce and ground pepper, then pour in the stock. Give it another minute or so. The bok choi should have softened a bit but should still remain crunchy inside.

Of course, you can experiment a lot in the wok with the ingredients. For example, you could also add a few shrimps while you sauté the spices. Or to give it a little bit a different touch, try adding some oyster sauce. Endless possibilites here! Have fun!