Dish of Chicken with Bok Choy
(click to enlarge)

Chicken with Bok Choy


Korea
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 3 w/rice
**
1 hr
Prep		 This flavorful stir fry is light, simple, and easy to make. It can be adapted to any Bok Choy, and to many other Choys.

14
-----
1/3
1/4
1
1
-----
1
2
1
-----
2
1
2/3
-----
1
1
1/2
1/4
-----
1
2
1
oz
----
t
t
T
lrg
----
#
cl
in
----
T
T
c
----
T
T
t
t
----
T
T
t
Chicken meat (1)  
-- Marinade
Salt
Pepper
Cornstarch
Egg White
------------
Bok Choy (2)
Garlic
Ginger
--Sauce
Rice Wine (3)
Oyster Sauce (4)
Stock
------------
Oil
Oil (more)
Salt
Pepper
-- Finish
Cornstarch
Water
Sesame Oil, dark
Prep   (40 min)
  1. Slice CHICKEN about 1/4 inch thick and cut into bite size pieces. Keep it pretty thin, as cooking time is very short, depending on the choy selected.
  2. Tumble Chicken with Salt and Pepper, then add Egg White and Cornstarch. Massage well into Chicken, then set aside while preparing other items.
  3. Rinse Bok Choy and cut it whichever way you like. For Green Bok Choy or Yu Choy, Stems do not need to be held separate unless they are quite large.
  4. Slice GARLIC thin. Slice GINGER very thin and cut slices into thin slivers. Mix.
  5. Mix all Sauce items.
  6. Mix Cornstarch and Water to make a slurry.
RUN   (20 min)
  1. In a wok or spacious sauté pan heat 1 T Oil and stir in Chicken. Fry tumbling over medium flame just until it has lost all its raw color. The cornstarch will start to stick to the pan, be careful it does not get beyond medium blonde in color, because it will become part of the sauce. The Chicken will not be fully cooked at this point.
  2. Remove Chicken from the pan and set aside.
  3. Add 1 T Oil to the pan. Stir in Garlic mix just until aromatic (a few seconds). Stir in Choy Stems (if separate) and fry stirring 1-1/2 to 4 minutes, depending on type, then stir in Leaves until coated with oil.
  4. Stir in Chicken and Sauce Mix. Bring to a boil. Scrape up fond stuck to the pan into the sauce. Simmer covered, turning frequently, until Yu Choy stems are crisp tender and Chicken is cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes - do not overcook.
  5. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper. Stir up Cornstarch mix and quickly stir into the pan until the sauce thickens.
  6. Stir in Sesame Oil and take off the heat.
  7. Serve hot with plenty of steamed rice - medium grain for authentically Korean, or Long Grain Jasmine if preferred.
NOTES:

  1. Chicken:

      Weight is for skinless, boneless chicken. I always use thigh and leg meat because it has better texture and flavor than the cardboard chicken breasts produced in North America.

  2. Bok Choy:

      Green Shanghai Bok Choy, sold as "Baby" Bok Choy in supermarkets is a good choice that's widely available. Select the smallest you can find. Here in Los Angeles we have many choices, and I prefer to use tiny Bok Choy. Other Choys can be used, but except for Shanghai Bok Choy and Yu Choy, the stems should be kept separate and given a longer lead time over the leaves. For details see our Cabbage Greens page.

  3. Rice Wine:

    Use a good drinkable Chinese rice wine. The cooking versions are heavily salted and not that good to start with. If you don't have the rice wine use a dry sherry. Sake, though made from rice, is not considered a good substitute, it's beer, not wine. For details see our Chinese Rice Wine page.

  4. Oyster Sauce:

      A standard Chinese sauce also used in Southeast Asia for dishes in the Chinese style. Quality varies widely. My current favorite is Megachef (Thai), but it isn't as widely available as Lee Kum Kee Premium, which is also very good - very Chinese looking bottle, but made in Los Angeles. Yes, these are more expensive, but for a reasons - much higher oyster content, unleaded and no melamine.

  5. Comments:

      The photo example was made with one of more than a dozen Bok Choys available in Los Angeles. This one was very small heads sort of half way between green Shanghai Bok Choy and white stemmed Bok Choy. I did keep the stems separate but gave them less than 2 minutes lead over the leaves. The photo example is garnished with Korean Chili Threads.
  6. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch ar=as required tt=to taste
cmc_chkbok1 200113 inet   -   www.clovegarden.com
©Andrew Grygus - agryg@clovegarden.com - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page permitted