Bok Choy

Have you heard that the food guide has apparently been replaced by this extremely simple theory that half your plate should be veggies, one quarter protein and one quarter carbs. Well, that seems easy enough to do. I realized that if I don't eat enough at dinner, I will spend the rest of the night snacking on junk food. Or go to bed and wake up in the night only to find I am eating chocolate.. yes this has happened to me! I sleep-eat. Is it worse than sleep walking? who knows?  To avoid this, I figured it would be a good idea to stock up on some greens- bok choy, spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard etc. Well not all of those at once, but a few from that list. I think my collard greens already went bad in the fridge because I didn't cook them soon enough. Grr!!

I recently signed up to the NYTimes Cooking Newsletter with different recipes. It is fun and chatty and links you to different recipes.. It looks like this

I recommend signing up, if you are into that sort of thing.

This week's newsletter included a recipe for stir fried Bok Choy, by Martha Rose Shulman. I love it when the stars align like that. So I brought over my bok choy and made it last night for my parents as a side dish and it was really good. We really liked the flavours.  I modified it a bit to make it simpler and to tailor the flavor to my tastes. Feel free to add more garlic and ginger.


Ingredients:
12 to 16 ounces bok choy- I used one package from the grocery store
¼ cup chicken broth, vegetable broth or water
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
¼ teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 slice ginger, minced
 Salt to taste
¼ teaspoon sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, to taste

Instructions:
1. Trim off the bottoms and separate into stalks. Rinse if necessary and drain on paper towels. Cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces.
2.  Bring an inch of water to a boil in the bottom of a steamer, and place the bok choy or greens in the steamer basket. Steam 1 minute, remove from the heat.
3. Combine the broth or water, rice wine , soy sauce and cornstarch in a small bowl and place within arm’s reach of your pan. Have the remaining ingredients measured out and near the pan.
4. Heat a wok or  skillet over high heat until a drop of water evaporates within a second or two when added to the pan. Swirl in the oil by adding it to the sides of the pan and swirling the pan, then add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 10 seconds, until fragrant. Add the bok choy, sprinkle with salt and the sugar, and stir-fry for about 30 seconds. Stir the cornstarch mixture and swirl into the wok, then stir-fry 1 minute, or until the greens are just tender. Sprinkle on the sesame seeds. Remove from the heat and serve.

Enjoy!