Garlic Chives with Oyster Sauce (蠔油韭菜)
A quick and easy side dish
This recipe illustrates a delicate method of blanching and dressing choy that is essential to the Cantonese kitchen. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned as a cook that texture is just as important as flavor, and if you do this method correctly, you will end up with bright green choy that has crunch in every bite. It works best for vegetables with tender, leafy greens like yau choy (sometimes romanized as “yu choy” or known by its very close variant choy sum) and gau choy (a.k.a. garlic chives) that can soak up the oyster sauce. Gau choy works marvelously for this recipe because the oyster sauce perfectly complements its texture and garlicky flavor.
This comes together so quickly that it works well for nights when you don’t have much time or you want to focus your attention on other dishes.
the recipe
Serves 2 (with a little bit left over)
Ingredients:
1 lb gau choy (or choy of your choice)
1 Tbsp neutral cooking oil (ex. grapeseed)
1 tsp salt
oyster sauce to taste (here I used approximately 2 Tbsp)
Fill up a medium-sized pot about halfway full with water. Add the salt and oil to the pot — this will make the choy nice and glossy when after it’s blanched. Set it to high heat so that it comes to a boil.
Rinse the choy under cold water. Cut off any dried stems if applicable. If you are using gau choy, chop or twist the choy into 3-4 inch pieces. If you’re using any other kind of choy, feel free to just leave them whole.
Once the water comes to a boil, add the choy and make sure its all submerged. What comes after is the most important part: you want to take it out the moment it’s just been cooked through. If you’re using a very leafy, delicate choy (like gau choy), only cook it for 45 seconds to 1 minute. If you’re using a choy with a thick stem (like yau choy or gai lan), only cook it for 1 or 2 minutes. You’ll want to keep a close eye on it. When the leaves are wilted and the vegetable is bright green, that’s generally a sign you can take it out.
Use chopsticks or tongs to remove the choy from the water and plate it. Drain any remaining water from the plated choy and then mix the oyster sauce into it to taste.
Serve as a side dish.
