116. Chinese stir fried bok choy with (vegetarian) sausage (V)

Chinese stir fried bok choy

Sorry, this recipe should have been posted yesterday, but yesterday I … :)) Yesterday, the weather was surprisingly good in Oxford. In the afternoon, the sun was shining. I could feel the mild wind blowing in my face, and when I passed by a building with a nice beautiful front garden, the smell of jasmine melted my heart. At that moment, I really wanted to get rid of my thick jacket, scarf and heavy boots, just run around the garden. --- But I had to carry on walking not to miss my appointment; when I finally arrived, I was almost soaked in sweat -- spring is here now!!!

This recipe might seem surprising. As you know, sausages are not a Chinese ‘thing’. Well, I need to explain this a little further. I don’t remember eating sausages when I was little, but probably in the past twenty years, the use of sausages gradually became popular in Chinese cooking. I guess it is because of the influence of Western food, although the sausages I am talking about are totally different to those in the West.

Chinese ‘sausage’ is called ‘Chang’ (2) in Mandarin. It has a pinkish colour with very smooth texture. In a way, it is more like a ‘hot dog’, but it tastes a bit similar to salami. (-- saying that, I am not an expert on salami, as most of them are made with pork meat.)

Chinese sausages do not need to be grilled or boiled like most  ‘hot dogs’. They are ready to eat. In Chinese cuisine, they can be eaten alone, or mixed in salad, or cooked in soup, or even stir-fried. (Again, since I don’t eat pork, I never really tried sausages other than vegetarian ones.)

But probably you never heard of stir-fried sausage -- it can probably be seen as a unique adaptation of western food to Chinese cuisine? :) In fact, the famous ‘Yang zhou fried rice’, which I tried both in northeast China and in Beijing, was made with this kind of Chinese sausage.

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31. Chinese stir fried ‘bok choy’ with fish balls

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油菜鱼丸

A friend, who is originally from Beijing, came over for dinner the other day and I cooked this dish. Then she asked me if I came up with the idea of this nice combination myself…. I was flattered --- but -- have to be honest, no, at least I don’t think so. Somewhere, sometime, I must have tried it, might have been a little bit different, and it might not be a typical Northeast dish. :)

Chinese bok choy

I normally buy ‘bok choy’ from Chinese supermarkets. I think they taste more juicy and crunchy than the ones sold in normal supermarkets. But this type of ‘bok choy’ in Northeast China is called ‘you cai’ as ‘oil vegetable’, I guess it is from its seed. (Bok Choy in Mandarin in the North East of China normally refers to Chinese leave as big `Bok Choy, or small green leaves as small bok choy. So if you are traveling in Northeast, don’t be confused.)

In Northeast cuisine, ‘You cai’ are normally stir fried or cooked in the soup on its own, or with other ingredients, like, mushrooms,  flat ‘Fen si’ (potato starch), or fish balls, but never with any meat. In contrast, the ‘small bok choy’ goes well with meat balls, beef or lamb mince balls, or in hot-pot.

Fish balls in Chinese cuisine

Fish balls are a ‘new thing’ in Northeast cuisine. They only started becoming popular around 15 years ago, maybe. They can be made from different kinds of white fish, commonly used only in soups. I guess it is a type Cantonese and Japanese food.

Here in England, I can only find fish balls in Chinese supermarkets, and they usually are ‘cuttlefish balls’. They are  normally sold in two types: fried and non-fried, both are good for stir frying or soup. Personally, (with my greedy stomach) I like fried ones, but, did I mention before that I got influenced by dad, who never trusts the oil that used to fry food sold in the market. So, I tend to only buy the non-fried ones, and if I like, I can fry them at home. But for this recipe, I do think non-fried ones are better.

The recipe: stir fried bok choy with fish balls

It is a very simple dish -- a very good quick fix, say 10 minutes? :))

Here you go.

Ingredients:

‘You Cai’  (Bok Choy)  - you need a big bunch of it, because after heated up and mixed with salt, it ‘shrinks’.

Fish balls

Garlic, five spice powder (optional), oil, light soy sauce, vegetable/mushroom essence or MSG (optional) 

Preparing:

1) Wash and clean ‘You Cai’, get rid of the ‘root’, and separate the leaves. -- (It is just for eating it easily. )

2) Halve the fish balls into half (This is only because the fish balls I got is not very small).

3) Chop 3 -5 gloves of garlic.

Cooking

1) Pour in 4 -5 tablespoons of oil into a heated wok.

2) When the oil is heated up, put in chopped the garlic, and 1/3 teaspoon of five spice powder (optional).

3) When you can smell the garlic, add the fish balls in, stir fry for a little while.

4) Add in prepared ‘You Cai’, stir fry together with fish balls.

5) Add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

6) When ‘Youcai’ shrinked a little bit (it is not supposed to be soft), add in egetable/mushroom essence or MSG (optional)

--- Done!

 I did a little ‘art’ -- placed the green leaves around the edge of the plate, and the white fish balls in the middle. :))

The leaves, especially the white part of the stem should still be very crunchy and juicy.

It is good to have it with boil rice or a beer. :)