Scrambled Eggs, Cheese, and Avocado Tortilla Bowl Recipe
September 16, 2025
Bok Choy in Ginger Sauce Recipe
My favorite solution to cook dinner bok choy is with a beautiful shiny, ginger sauce. Nice solution to load up on leafy Asian greens rapidly and simply! On the desk in 5 minutes, serve over fluffy rice or over noodles in soup.
I’ve shared many stir fries utilizing bok choy however I’ve by no means carried out one the place it takes centre stage. Which is a little bit of an omission on my half as a result of at present’s recipe is one which I take advantage of quite incessantly in my day-to-day life. It’s only a actually tasty, fast solution to cook dinner up an enormous load of leafy Asian greens. It’s a staple vegetable dish on the menu of on a regular basis Chinese language eating places.
Saucy is the important thing! That ginger sauce will make any vegetable scoff-able. The Chinese language are very intelligent cooks!
Right here’s what you have to make this bok choy recipe.
Bok Choy (or different Asian greens!)
I’m utilizing child bok choy for at present’s recipe however you should utilize nearly all leafy Asian greens similar to pak choy and choy sum.
Measurement – I like to make use of small(ish) bok choy if I can discover it, often labelled “child bok choy”, as a result of it’s extra tender and candy. I classify them “child” as much as round 17cm/7″ lengthy. The opposite facet profit is that you could cook dinner the leaves entire with out separating the stem from the leafy half which appears to be like good.
For much longer than this and you find yourself in a spaghetti-type scenario (I see scorching ginger sauce being slapped round your mouth!) until you narrow the leafy half from the stem.
Different Asian greens
The cooking technique on this recipe works nice for just about any Asian greens. You simply have to tweak the steaming time to go well with the one you’re utilizing. Listed below are another widespread Asian greens which are perfect to make use of for this recipe – pak choy (full measurement and child!) and choy sum.
And right here’s reduce every of these kinds of Asian greens for this recipe. For the longer ones, simply reduce into items as lengthy or brief as you need. For smaller ones, maintain the leaves entire!
Gai lan, also referred to as Chinese language broccoli, may even work however as a result of the stem is a little bit firmer (like strange broccoli texture), it’s going to take a little bit longer to steam-cook. Although, if Gai Lan is what you’ve got, my favorite solution to cook dinner it’s with Oyster Sauce, yum cha model – stacked and doused with sauce! Recipe right here.
Sauce
The sauce is a traditional Chinese language stir fry sauce that’s good and glossy. It’s pretty mild in color in comparison with different stir fry sauces which is widespread at Chinese language eating places. It fits vegetable dishes – we don’t need to overwhelm leafy greens with overly salty, intensely flavoured sauces.
However, let me be clear, this sauce is certainly not bland!! It’s a superb, tasty rice-soaking sauce!
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Oyster sauce – A quite common Asian sauce discovered within the Asian aisle of grocery shops that’s used liberally in Chinese language, Thai and different Asian cooking. Candy and savoury packed into one magical bottle, it’s key to this in any other case easy sauce not being bland and boring. Substitute with vegetarian oyster sauce (pretty generally discovered lately) or hoisin sauce (you’ll get a touch of Chinese language 5 spice flavour which is gorgeous too!)
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Chinese language cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) is a vital ingredient for making actually “restaurant commonplace” Asian sauces, provides depth of flavour. Extra data on it right here. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic substitutes – swap each the cooking wine AND water with low sodium chicken broth/inventory.
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Sesame oil (toasted) – Use toasted sesame oil which is brown and has extra flavour than untoasted (which is yellow). Default sesame oil bought in Australia is toasted, untoasted is tougher to seek out.
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Soy sauce – Use both mild or all goal soy sauce. However not darkish soy sauce – flavour is just too robust and the color is just too intense! Extra on which soy sauce to make use of when right here.
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Cornflour / cornstarch – Thickens the stir fry sauce and in addition makes it shiny! Flour, then again, doesn’t make sauces shiny. Meals trivia for the day!
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White pepper is the pepper of selection in most Chinese language stir fry sauces because it retains the sauce freed from (ugly!😂) black pepper speckles. However I promise switching a pinch of white pepper for black pepper will not damage your dish!!
Bok choy cooks so rapidly it may be pan roasted, steamed or boiled. However my favorite approach is to mix each pan-roasting and steaming. You get the beautiful sautéed gingery oil coating the bok choy earlier than steaming it in simply 45 seconds within the pan. The sauce is poured in on the finish and actually takes 30 seconds to thicken!
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Sauce – Combine the cornflour/cornstarch with every part besides the water till lump free, then combine within the water. Why? As a result of it’s simpler to dissolve cornflour in much less liquid. If there’s an excessive amount of liquid, you find yourself with pesky cornflour lumps.
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Sauté ginger within the oil for a minute to melt and in addition to flavour the oil. The ginger gained’t cook dinner a lot additional as soon as every part else is added.
TIP: Begin the ginger in a chilly pan to increase the oil-infusion time!
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Toss bok choy within the pan for about 15 seconds to coat it within the gingery oil. I like to recommend utilizing 2 spatulas, one a rubber spatula so you may scoop up the little bits of ginger.
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Water – Then pour over 1/4 cup of water. It will create the steam to cook dinner the bok choy.
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45 second steam – Place the lid on then steam for simply 45 seconds till the stem is partially cooked. Bok choy cooks actually, actually rapidly! And we nonetheless have the sauce to go so we don’t need it to be absolutely comfortable at this stage.
Doneness – The stem ought to nonetheless have a comfortable crunch to it, however not be crisp like when uncooked. If it’s comfortable all over, it turns into mush. Not nice!
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Sauce – Give the sauce a fast stir to combine in any cornflour settled on the underside. Then pour it over the bok choy and toss for simply 30 seconds or till it adjustments from murky to a transparent shiny sauce that thickens barely and coats the bok choy.
Thickness adjustment – If the sauce evaporates too rapidly and will get too thick, simply add a splash of water to loosen it up! This may occur if there’s an excessive amount of warmth within the pan or in case your greens are a bit previous their prime so don’t launch a lot water when steaming.
And that’s it! How fast was that? 🙂 Simply switch the bok choy and each drop of that scrumptious sauce onto a serving plate then serve!
The plain position for this plate of tasty vegetable goodness is as a facet dish. However I exaggerate not once I say that I’ll fortunately have this as a meal, simply by itself. Proof above. Take a look at that ginger-sauce-rice-soaking scenario!!! Attempt telling me that’s not meal worthy! – Johnsat x
Ingredients
- 6 small bok choys , up to ~17cm/7″ long, or other Asian greens (Note 1 + photos in post)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup ginger , finely julienned (or 1 tbsp garlic)
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce , or all-purpose soy (Note 2)
- 1 tsp oyster sauce (sub vegetarian oyster sauce)
- 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine (Note 3)
- 1 tsp sesame oil , toasted
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt
- Pinch white pepper
Instructions
- Cutting – Trim the base of the bok choy then separate all the leaves. Leave the delicate baby bok choy in the centre intact, it's precious! Cut giant stems in half lengthwise so they are all roughly the same size. Rinse in colander, shake off excess water (don't need to dry fully).
- Sauce – Stir Sauce ingredients except water in a jug until cornflour is dissolved. (Easier to make lump free with less liquid). Then stir in water.
- Gingery oil – Put the ginger and oil in a large non-stick pan. Turn onto medium heat. Once the ginger starts sizzling, sauté for 1 minute until it turns light golden and is a bit floppy. Add bok choy then use 2 spatulas to toss the ginger for around 15 seconds to coat.
- Steam – Turn heat up to medium, pour water over. Cover with lid and steam for just 45 seconds.
- Sauce – Remove lid (bok choy will still be a bit underdone), pour in sauce, toss for 30 seconds until sauce changes from murky to clear, and thickens. Bok choy should be just floppy but still soft crunch, not mushy. If your sauce gets too thick (Note 4), add a tiny splash of water and mix.
- Serve – Pour the bok choy and all the sauce onto a serving plate, then eat!
Notes
1. Bok Choy & other asian greens – can use other leafy Asian greens, such as pak choy, choy sum, baby and full size. For short ones, like the pictured baby bok choy, just trim the base and separate the leaves (keep stem and leafy part attached). For long ones, cut into 7.5cm/3″ (ish) lengths (see photos in post). If the stems are really thick, cut in half. Toss the stems in first to give them a head start, then add the leafy part just at the end before adding water to steam.
Recipe will work with gai lan (Chinese broccoli) too, just get the stem going first (it’s thicker so will take longer to cook) and steam it for a little longer (around 2 minutes in total).
2. Soy sauce – Use either light or all purpose soy sauce. But not dark soy sauce – flavour is too strong and the colour is too intense! More on which soy sauce to use when here.
3. Chinese cooking wine (“Shaoxing wine”) is an essential ingredient for making truly “restaurant standard” Asian sauces, adds depth of flavour. More info on it here. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. Non alcoholic sub – sub both the cooking wine AND water with low sodium chicken broth/stock.
4. Sauce relies on some water coming out of the bok choy as it steams. If your bok choy is old and shrivelled, not enough water will come out. Easy fix – just add a tiny splash of water!
5. Charlie option – To make this using Charlie (my all-purpose stir fry sauce), mix 2 tablespoons of Charlie with 1/4 cup water. Then use as the Sauce!
6. Leftovers will keep for 2 days but the vegetables do tend to get watery/floppy. 🙂
Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.
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