With just the right amount of saltiness, the delicate sweetness from this vegetable is nicely accentuated.
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Yu Choy was not a favorite vegetable of mine while growing up due to the wax-like stalks. However, I bought some because they were on sale.
Inspiring Recipe
For some ideas on how to cook the vegetable, I went online. What I found was, Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) Stir Fry Recipe, from SteamyKitchen.com, a food blog that I referenced previously to cook Chinese long beans.
First Try
After purchasing 2.17 pounds of Yu Choy, my shopping was done because I had the rest of the ingredients at home.
Ingredients to Use
With a little more than twice the amount of greens listed on the default recipe, I increased the rest of the ingredients and used the following:
- 10 cloves of whole garlic
- 2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of oil
- 4 ounces + 1/2 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon of chicken bone broth*
*For the broth, I used what was available at home, which was chicken bone broth.
Steps to Prepare
There wasn’t much to the two-step cooking process, but I did deviate a little from the recommended temperature and steaming time. Starting with medium heat, I kept it there until the greens steamed for four minutes. After stirring, it looked like they needed more heat, so I increased the stove to medium high, steamed for two more minutes, and repeated. After a total steaming time of eight minutes, the Yu Choy was softened to my liking.
Time to Eat
Here’s a plate of lovely bright green Yu Choy!
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |  | |  |
Even though the leaves were chewy, I enjoyed the naturally sweet stalks.
Second Try
During the second round, I wanted to see if I could make the Yu Choy less chewy.
Ingredients to Use
With 2.05 pounds of these greens, a little less than the first time, I used the following for the remaining ingredients:
- 11 cloves of whole garlic
- 2 tablespoons + 1/8 teaspoon of oil
- 4 ounces + 1/2 teaspoon of chicken broth**
**This time, I used defrosted chicken broth from some Hainanese Chicken Rice that I made, similar to what I wrote about before.
Steps to Prepare
For the process, I repeated what I did during the first try. After steaming the Yu Choy for 3 1/2 minutes, I stirred it, increased the heat to medium high, steamed it for another four minutes, stirred it again, and finally steamed it for another four minutes, totaling 11 1/2 minutes of steaming time.
Time to Eat
The plate of Yu Choy looked similar to the last time, except that more of the broth evaporated.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | | | |
The Yu Choy leaves were still chewy and stalks sweet, but the most noticeable part was that the greens weren’t as salty.
Although the Yu Choy didn’t taste bad with the less salty broth, it had a better flavor the fist time around, so I will try the following next time:
Continuous Improvement
- Taste the vegetable before serving and add salt to it, if needed.
Since both attempts yielded chewy leaves, it’s possible that I might need to reverse my action. Based on this assumption, I would like to share the following with my younger self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- If one method doesn’t work, try the opposite one. In this case, steam the Yu Choy for less time.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) Stir Fry Recipe, from SteamyKitchen.com, a food blog?
- Share your cooking technique on how to get both the vegetable leaves and stalks to be soft?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)
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