Siew Pak Choy with Braised Mushrooms

Siew Pak Choy (in Cantonese) is one of my favourite vegetables as it is simple to cook and has the crispy texture I look for in vegetables. It can simply be blanched and flavoured with oyster sauce but I’ve decided to do something extra. In this recipe, I braise some shiitake mushrooms and pour the gravy over the siew pak choy to give it a more “classy” feel to this simple dish. A little bit of effort goes a long way to make a dish look and taste better.

This is my recipe for Siew Pak Choy with Braised Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 200 grammes of siew pak choy (rinsed clean and cut between stem and leaves. Separate stems from leaves)
• 5 shiitake mushrooms or chinese dried mushrooms (if latter, soak overnight till soft)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• 1 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons palm oil

Seasoning

• 1 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon abalone sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• Salt to taste
• A dash or two of white pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and saute garlic on medium high heat till light brown. Remove fried garlic.

With remaining oil in wok, stir fry mushrooms for 1 minute. Add chicken stock and 1/2 cup water. Add seasoning (except chinese cooking wine) and allow to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer till gravy reduced to 1/2 cup. (This should take about 5 to 10 minutes)

Meanwhile, bring to boil a large pot of water. Add 1 tablespoon palm oil and 2 teaspoons salt. Then add siew pak choy stems followed by leaves 15 seconds later. Once leaves turn colour to dark green, remove siew pak choy from pot and arrange them on a plate.

Once gravy reduced to a thick sauce, add chinese cooking wine (if you want to, add 1 tablespoon of potato starch to thicken sauce to your liking) and stir well.

Pour gravy and mushroom over the siew pak choy and garnish with fried garlic.