Friday, October 3, 2008

Bok Choy 1

I made a vegi/tomato sauce mixture this morning to go with a bunch of Pirogies I had. As one of the components I used Bok Choy (chinese cabbage). This is an ingredient which I often include in chinese cooking, but have also used in crockpot chili. However, this was really the first time that I tasted a certain flavor in the Bok Choy. The flavor was best described as tang. An acidic, but also tangy flavor in the Bok Choy seemed to be accented by the acid of the tomatoes. I looked up online just a little while ago and in fact Boy Choy has a ton of Vitamin C so this makes complete sense. My question is how have people taken advantage of this characteristic tang? My first thought was that the Bok Choy could be utilized to create a distinctive drink. Think Lemonade -- maybe add some mint and simple syrup. Next time I got to Chinatown I'll get a bunch of Bok Choy and start to experiment with this idea. My concern with it as a drink, however, is that it might be hard to extract the flavor without the less drinkable components. Blending and boiling might do it.
Another thought is to try to use Bok Choy in cooking fish. Over the summer I made a nice flounder dish (essentially pan fry flounder with Rosemary, Thyme and some butter/olive oil mixture, when done deglaze with white wine and lemon juice and cook into a sauce). I'm thinking that rather than using the lemon juice, diced Bok Choy might meld well with the wine and lend it the desired freshness of the lemon, plus an interest additional flavor. In this capacity also the small pieces of Bok Choy would also provide a nice crunch in contrast to the softness of the fish.
Yet another idea is to employ this tang along side the only nut which loves tang --- cashews. For some reason, not yet known to me, cashews and tangy flavors meld really well. A simple mixture of cooked cashews and Bok Choy would probably rock. Probably best to chop the nuts a little, and maybe add a fresh tasting green -- cilantro? Not sure, maybe first try it with just these two ingredients. If this makes a good base, then you could make rice pilaf with these flavorings.
Well, I'd best get some Bok Choy before I loss interest and move onto another food...

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