Bok Choy and Mushroom Stir Fry

Quick Bok choy stir fry with fresh shiitake mushrooms. The combination of two lovely ingredients. This can be finished within 5 minutes and it is a healthy, savory, and delicious side dish.

What’s Bok Choy

Bok choy, as one of the most popular and healthy dark green leafy vegetables in the common Chinese kitchen, has been my favorite ingredient too, especially in winter. In China, the concert of seasonal eating continually obtains higher popularity.  Although bok choy is available around the year due to modernized agriculture. Winter bok choy is the best. When the temperature drops, bok choy gets a crunchier texture and a sweeter flavor.

One of the simplest ways of cooking bok choy is to stir-fry it with garlic.  In China, we call this cooking style “清炒” meaning frying without spices.  In the Sichuan area, we like to add dried chili pepper and Sichuan peppercorn in dark leafy stir fry dishes. The latter method is called “炝炒”.  Both methods create delicious and healthy vegetable stir-fries.

Shiitake mushroom is a great enhancer for bok choy stir fry

After eating too much garlicky bok choy, I always think about how to improve the dish. Then shiitake mushroom (in fact, beech mushroom works perfectly too) is selected as the best partner of Bok Choy. Shiitake mushrooms contribute a unique aromatic while Bok Choy provides a crunchy texture and mildly sweet taste.

Some oil at the last stage

In order to make the final dish shinning and beautiful, a very small amount of starch water (水淀粉) is usually used in vegetable stir-fries. Instead of adding starch water, I use vegetable oil only. Adding vegetable oil at the very end of the stir-frying process can make the dish “shining shining” too.

Instructions

I use the stem part of the bok choy, but you can choose to keep the leaves. Then cut bok choy into smaller pieces. 

Then wash the shitake mushrooms, remove the roots, and cut them into slices.

Heat around 1.5 tablespoons of cooking oil in a wok and fry garlic and mushroom slices for around 1 minute until the garlic turns aromatic and the mushroom becomes soft.

Place the bok choy in. Fry for another minute until the bok choy becomes soft too. Add oyster sauce and light soy sauce.

Drizzle another ½ tablespoon of cooking oil. Mix well and serve hot.

Turn it into vegan friendly

If you want to make this vegan, skip oyster sauce or replace it with vegan oyster sauce.

Chinese Style Vegetable Stir Fry

1. Chinese cabbage stir fry
2. Radish greens stir fry
3. Garlic Broccoli stir fry
4. Chinese water spinach stir fry