Date of the last update: 13.04.2023
Chinese cabbage – also known as pak choi – is a vegetable native to East Asia and, as you can guess by its name, especially in Chinese cuisine. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, which makes it worth incorporating into your diet. You can prepare pak choi in many different ways, and adapt it to your tastes. Below is some nutritional information, and simple recipes using Chinese cabbage.
Table of contents:
- What is it worth knowing about pak choi?
- Oriental soup with pak choi
- Fried noodles with pak choi with meat and veggie versions
- Crunchy salad with pak choi
You can read this article in 4 minutes.
What is it worth knowing about pak choi?
Healthy and tasty, pak choi is increasingly available across the world. However, if you have a garden, you can also grow it yourself! It’s growing popularity is no surprise, as pak choi is a source of vitamins B and C, as well as potassium, magnesium, calcium and iron. It is very versatile to prepare – it can be boiled, fried, baked, stewed, or even eaten raw.
Oriental soup with pak choi
One of the most common uses of pak choi is in warming and slightly spicy soups.
- To prepare the soup, begin by boiling vegetable broth (or simply dissolve a cube of dried vegetable stock in boiling water). Broths in Asian cuisine are often seasoned with soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, and lemon or lime juice.
- Next, add the washed pak choi leaves to the broth.
- Depending on your preferences and what you happen to have in the fridge, you can add more ingredients to the boiling broth such as fish, tofu, roasted pumpkin, or sliced mushrooms.
- Pak choi soup can be served with either rice or noodles. We recommend Asian noodles like wonton, chow mein, or rice noodles.
- Finally, sprinkle the finished soup with coriander, chives, fried white sesame seeds, or chilli flakes before serving.
Fried noodles with pak choi, with meat and veggie versions
Preparing tasty noodles with pak choi cabbage is easy! Below is the recipe for fried noodles with pak choi and either chicken, or tofu and vegetables.
- First, cook your choice of Asian noodles, preferably thin rice noodles.
- Next, heat some coconut oil, and gently fry cashew nuts or peanuts with finely chopped onions, garlic, and if you like a spicy flavour, add some chopped ginger and chilli.
- If you are making the chicken version, add the diced chicken and fry briefly over a higher heat. If you’re making the vegetarian version, you can add tofu, mushrooms or bell peppers.
- Add the pak choi, and fry the ingredients together for another 2-3 minutes.
- Prepare a sauce of water, soy sauce, and rice vinegar, and add to the pan/wok with the other ingredients.
- Lastly, add the cooked noodles, and stir and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
- The finished dish is served on the plate with a sprinkle of coriander, chives, sesame seeds, and, if you like a spicy taste – chilli flakes!
Crunchy salad with pak choi
As well as soups and wok-fried dishes, pak choi can also serve as the basis for a delicious, crunchy, healthy, and low-calorie salad. This pak choi salad is super simple!
- First, wash and dry the pak choi leaves, and chop them into smaller pieces or narrow strips.
- Next, add more vegetable ingredients to your salad, using one of the following three options. One option is to combine the pak choi with leeks and tomatoes. For this, cut the white part of the leek into slices or half slices, and dice the tomato. The second option is to combine pak choi and cucumber. In this case, cut the cucumber into half slices. The third option is to mix the pak choi with grated carrot and apple. If you like savoury salads, you can add onions to any of these three variations.
- Add all your chosen ingredients to a bowl and mix lightly.
- Lastly, prepare a delicate dressing, combining yoghurt, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
And that’s all!
Check out also: Roasted Tomato Soup
We hope you enjoy these recipes, and most importantly, we encourage you to experiment in the kitchen with different ways to make Chinese pak choi cabbage the star ingredient! Not only does pak choi add new tastes to our diet, it also contributes a large dose of valuable vitamins and minerals. Enjoy!