Bok Choy In Black Bean Sauce Recipe

If you're tired of the same old greens as a side dish, ask yourself, "What would Martha do?" One of the ingredients Martha Stewart can't live without is bok choy, so she'd probably suggest stir-frying this leafy Chinese cabbage. As the domestic diva would undoubtedly say of the vegetable, "it's a good thing" since it's not only super-nutritious (it's a great source of vitamins A, C, and K as well as calcium and potassium) but also pretty darn delicious, especially when dressed up a little bit. Developer Julianne De Witt is also a bok choy fan, and she likes to prepare the vegetable in a sauce flavored with fermented black beans. She describes this combination as "a very simple and easy recipe perfect for a weeknight meal."

"This flavorful side dish goes well with any protein," De Witt tells us. You could even turn it into a main dish by stir-frying sliced pork, chicken, beef, or chunks of tofu along with the bok choy. If you don't have a wok, that's no problem. De Witt says she likes using hers because it heats up evenly and is able to withstand high heat, but a frying pan will also work just fine.

While this recipe calls for baby bok choy, you can also use the regular kind as long as you cut it crosswise into 1-inch pieces. The other ingredients you'll need for the dish include avocado oil, fermented black beans, garlic, ginger, scallions, sugar, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, chicken stock, and cornstarch.

Soak the black beans in cold water for 1 hour, then drain.

Chop the beans into smaller pieces, then set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon avocado oil to a small pot over medium-low heat.

Add the garlic, ginger, and scallions, cooking for 1 minute, until softened.

Stir in the sugar, rice vinegar, wine, and soy sauce.

Mix the cornstarch into the chicken stock.

Stir the chicken stock/cornstarch mixture into the pot.

Add black beans and bring the sauce to a light boil, then simmer for 5 minutes until thickened and reduced by a third.

Add 1 tablespoon of avocado oil to a wok and place over medium high heat.

Add the bok choy to the wok, cut side down, and cook until lightly browned.

Flip the bok choy, then add the black bean sauce to the wok. Stir.

Place a lid on the wok and cook until bok choy has softened, about 6 minutes, before serving immediately.

If you're imagining fermented black beans to be anything like the kind of dried or canned black beans used for refried beans, cowboy caviar, or veggie burgers, you may be surprised to find that they're a different type of bean altogether. Douchi, which is the transliterated Chinese name for this item, is actually made from soybeans that are fermented with salt. This recipe uses the Cantonese kind of fermented black beans which need to be rehydrated before use. If you have Sichuan-style douchi, these beans are fermented in liquid so they do not need the soaking step. They also taste somewhat less salty, although they're often flavored with other seasonings. Cantonese douchi are a better bet for anyone on a gluten-free diet, however, because the fermentation liquid used to make Sichuan-style ones may contain wheat.

Fermented black beans have a very strong flavor thanks to their fermentation, so they are used as more of a condiment than a main ingredient. They may also be paired with other strong flavors such as ginger and garlic, as they are in this recipe. These ingredients help to balance out the beans' intense flavor.

Bok choy in black bean sauce is a dish well-suited for many Chinese-style main dishes. It makes a great accompaniment for garlic prawns, char siu pork, or kung pao chicken, and if you replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock, it can even make the perfect vegan side for ma po tofu or stir-fried eggplant. Of course, you needn't save this saucy bok choy dish for a Chinese-style meal, since it could also serve as an unexpectedly tasty side for roast pork, chicken, steak, or steamed fish.

Steamed rice or boiled noodles would also go well with bok choy in black bean sauce. If you have leftovers — these keep for up to three days in the fridge — you may want to incorporate the greens into a rice bowl. You could also add them to a soup or a stir-fry or even combine them with mushrooms, scallions, and eggs to make an Asian-style omelet.