Pak Choi: Highly underestimated

Most of us know it as "Bok Choy" but I prefer to call things what they are. Pronouncing them as they are called is important to me as well, and that is not pretension, but a respectful preference. You can buy this in most any grocery store, I actually found this at a Mexican market, oddly though most people find it almost completely synonymous with Asian food fare. Pak Choi is actually a form of cabbage, although not looking or tasting anything like a traditional one, and is used in some versions of "Kimchi".(Korean pickled cabbage) 

My first discernible experience with this "white vegetable" was when working for Cilantro Live and they had an "Arame & Dulse" Bok Choy salad. I didn't prefer the seaweed aspect of that salad but fell in love with this cabbage's texture. It's really hard to explain to someone what it tastes like when they've never tried it before. It looks like celery, but isn't stringy, it has a leafy top, but isn't lettuce, and definitely doesn't taste like cabbage. I find Pak Choi to have a bland, earthy but pleasant flavor. I feel my liking is more about the texture, cooked or raw. 

"When speaking about health benefits Pak Choi is full of Vitamin A and C. One cup of cooked bok choy provides more than 100% of the recommended dietary allowance of A, and close to two-thirds the RDA of C." (<- From WebMd.com "Bok Choy 10 Healthy facts.)

Pak Choi is also a source of Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Calcium and Vitamin B-6 and has been found to be one of the Cancer eliminating foods. 

Unfortunately besides Stir fry and Asian cuisine, you don't see much of it around, and I don't think most people would even know what to do with it. But here on Mondays we love Pak Choi and below is a couple quick ways to use it.

 This is a lightly sauteed version of Pak Choi with a little Olive oil and spices.

Ingredients:

2 cup Pak Choi
1 diced Scallion
dash of pepper and lemon chili salt
2-3 Tbs. olive oil

Directions:

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together. Heat a pan and throw it all in on a high heat for 1-2 minutes tossing and turning, you don't want to cook it but rather flash fry it.

Last week I made The Hunebee and Kuizzy a spicy Pak Choi and red bell pepper salad, marinated in a tangy vinaigrette and serrano peppers.

Prep time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2

Cost: $2.00 per jar

Ingredients:

(2 jars)
4 cups Pak Choi
2 serrano peppers, diced very thin
1/2 cup red bell peppers, diced
1 scallion diced

Dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar
dash of ginger powder
salt and pepper

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients, and then jar it. The salad should keep for up to 5 days, but again be careful of the serrano pepper's heat. The Hunebee and Kuizzy love SPICY food. You might want to try one pepper the first time.

ENJOY!