Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Stir Fried Bok Choy with Shrimp, Noodles, and Oyster Sauce

Last week in our CSA bushel, we received a big, leafy, gorgeous head of bok choy. In the past, my favorite things to do with bok choy were to use it in a brothy soup with thin rice noodles or to simply saute it with some sesame oil. Nothing has changed regarding how great that soup and sauteed bok choy are, but I just wanted to do something different with it this time. I started pulling books off the shelves, and found two very similar ideas in two different books and both used full-sized bok choy, which is what I had, rather than the baby variety which seems to be more common in a lot of recipes. I mixed and matched and the result was what you see here. First, I found a pan-fried noodle dish made with bok choy and pork in Harumi's Japanese Cooking. In the recipe, she suggests other meats can be substituted for pork, so that got me thinking. The other key to her dish was the noodles that were added to the sauce. The second idea came from Eating Local, and that one involved stir fried shrimp and bok choy with added sliced red chiles. The sauces from both recipes were almost the exactly same, so I set about stir frying shrimp, of course I added the red chiles from the Eating Local recipe, I took the noodles from Harumi's dish, and dinner was served.

Since this was the big kind of bok choy, it was necessary to cut the leaves from the stems, roughly chop the leaves, and slice the thick stems. The red chiles were thinly sliced as was a clove of garlic, and a couple of slices of peeled ginger were smashed with the side of a knife. With everything prepped, the noodles went into boiling water while the shrimp were stir fried first. After a couple of minutes in the wok, the shrimp were removed to a large bowl, and the garlic, ginger, and chiles were tossed in the wok before the bok choy stems were added. The stir frying goes quickly, but to be sure the stems become tender before browning, a little water may need to be added to the wok. It was needed in my case, and about two minutes later, the stems were good to go. The bok choy leaves were added last, really just to wilt, and the shrimp were re-warmed and stirred into the mix. I removed all of that to a bowl that was kept warm next to the stove so that I could add the cooked and drained noodles to the wok. The noodles were stir fried with a little oil, and then topped with the sauce. The sauce was a mixture of oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, sesame oil, and rice wine. Last, I tossed the noodles with the shrimp and bok choy mixture.

There's something about stir frying that almost always causes me to have a minor freak out at some point. I either think things are cooking too quickly, or I realize I forgot to chop something, or everything just sticks to the wok. Amazingly, nothing went horribly wrong this time. This dish would have been great with just about any kind of greens, but the bok choy leaves and stems gave it nice contrasting textures. The sauce was delicious, the chiles gave it spice, and next time I have bok choy on hand I'll have one more meal in mind for it.



24 comments:

  1. I'm obsessed with bok choy and with simple stir fries like this. Can't wait to try something similar soon.

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  2. I love such types of stir-fries! Very yummy looking.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. I have Harumi's Japanese Cooking too! I also have another one of her books. :) She seems so cute, and I love her recipes.

    This stir fry looks absolutely delicious, and cooked perfectly. I had mini freakouts too, when I stir fry... but i pretty much have mini freakouts almost every time i cook. I've learned to accept it though. it's all part of the learning process!

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  4. That looks so scrumpotious and healthy, Lisa! Great photo! My mouth is watering.

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  5. That looks delicious! What lovely colors and flavors!

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  6. Oh my goodness what a delicious, tasty recipe. And being on the lighter side - a perfect one for the pre-Thanksgiving/holidays heavy hitters we're all about to load up on. Thanks so much for sharing!

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  7. I don't think I've ever seen such an inspired bok choy recipe. You and I are thinking alike this week with our asian inspired noodle dishes! Love this.

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  8. Oh how I love a great noodle dish, with bok choy & shrimp.., so good for you, so quick and so yummy :)

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  9. I like bok choy and I'm obsessed with shrimp. .This is heaven! Oh, these look amazing - yep, my thighs are quivering! I am drooling

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  10. I didn't realized that you also like spicy food. Love those chopped fresh red chilly for this dish.

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  11. An excellent stir fry dish! We've been making stir-fry every friday and would love to make this very soon!

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  12. I love that shot of the bok choy leaves! It looks like an art print- maybe you should frame it?

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  13. i love dishes like this..simple and delicious:) thanks for sharing.

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  14. Hehe my mum always tells me to chop everything up ahead of time for stir fries but I never do! :P

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  15. I love having an Asian twist to pasta sometimes. Yours look so perfectly delicious.

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  16. I love dishes like this. Now my tummy is growling for some of this!

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  17. Oh my, that just looks so tasty. I've been craving some Chinese lately and now I really am getting desperate after seeing this amazing dish.

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  18. I always enjoy bok choy but don't buy it often enough. This looks fabulous!

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  19. love this asian fushion pasta and complete with sliced red chilli. You're always tempting me with good food :)

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  20. Going to try a version of this this week. Just need to get some shrimp. :)

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  21. Don't do shrimp, but this looks good, healthy and obviously easy to prep....

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  22. The dish is full of vibrant colors and flavors. The sliced red chili make the magic:-)

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  23. Replies
    1. Vicki: I'm trying to remember. I believe they were Asian wheat noodles. But, rice noodles or even spaghetti would work great.

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