Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) Stir Fry • Steamy Kitchen Recipes Giveaways (2024)

by Jaden | Asian, Recipes, Sides | 14 comments

These delicious Chinese Greens cook simply and quickly. This way the delicate greens are not swimming in salty or sweet sauce, where you can’t taste the vegetable at all. When the Yu Choy is fresh, you don’t even need salt or sugar – the chicken broth will add enough saltiness. So Good!

Why This Chinese Greens Recipe Is So Good

• A healthyand delicious side dish
• Quick to make – less than 10 mins from pantry to table
• Fresh Chinese Greens deliver wonderful texture

Ingredients

• Chinese greens
• Garlic cloves
• Oil
• Vegetable or chicken broth

How To Make These Chinese Greens – Step By Step

1. Heat the oil in your wok until hot. Turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic cloves to the oil and fry until the cloves are golden brown (but not burnt!). This will flavor the oil.
2. Add the Yu Choy, stir so that each stalk gets a light coating of the garlic-flavored oil. Add the chicken broth and immediately cover. Let the vegetable steam for 3 1/2 minutes until tender. The Yu Choy should still be bright green, the stalks should be soft and still have a nice bite to it.

What Are Chinese Greens?

Chinese Greens, or Yu Choy, looks a lot like the Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan), except that the Yu Choy stalks are skinnier and the flowers are yellow (Gai Lan has white flowers). This vegetable is tender, the taste of the leaves are very much like spinach leaves, even though it is part of the mustard family. Fresh Yu-Choy has small tight yellow flowers, bright green leaves and stems, and if you look at the bottom of the bunch of stems, they should not be dried out.

(photo from https://www.worldcrops.org)

Are Chinese Greens Good For You?

Chinese greens are a rich source of the carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin, both known to protect eye health. Thanks to their richgreencolors,Asian greensalso contain a wealth of the mineral magnesium, which is involved in healthly muscle function. MostAsian greensare very rich in the B-vitamin folate.

What To Serve With These Chinese Greens

This is such a simple and fresh side, it goes well with a host of dishes. Why not try it withBeef And Broccoli Stir Fry or withThai Pork Chops in Ginger Coconut Sauce – so good!

Top Tips For Chinese Greens

• Select the freshest greens available in your market
• When cooking fresh vegetables like this, the heat of your wok should stay at medium to medium-high. If the heat is too hot, the broth may evaporate too quickly and your vegetables may burn. To low, and your vegetables will cook too slowly and you will lose your bright green coloring of the vegetable.
• You can cook other vegetables the same way, just adjust the amount of broth you add accordingly. Thicker stems need more broth and more steam time.
• If you are like me, and you love to eat soft, tender, mild garlic cloves, you can add more cloves. Because they are toasted in the oil and then cooked with the vegetables, the garlic turns into a sweet nugget of flavor without the sting of minced garlic.

Check Out These Other Delicious Side Dishes

• Bok Choy Recipe
• Chinese Broccoli Recipe
• Green Bean and Shiitake Mushroom Stir Fry
• Roast Cauliflower Recipe with Bacon and Garlic

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