Bok Choy with Shiitakes and Oyster Sauce

- Total Time
- About 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¼cup dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1½pounds bok choy, trimmed
- ¼cup peanut oil
- 1tablespoon minced garlic (optional)
- 1cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
- ½ to ¾cup commercial oyster sauce
Preparation
- Step 1
Soak shiitakes in one cup of very hot water until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Trim mushrooms and chop. Separate leaves and stems of bok choy; cut stems into 2-inch lengths and slice leaves into ribbons.
- Step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. When oil is hot, add bok choy stems, garlic if you are using it, reconstituted mushrooms, and about ¼ cup reserved mushroom water. Cook, stirring frequently, until stems are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small skillet heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil; sauté fresh shiitake mushrooms over medium-high heat. Continue cooking until they begin to brown and crisp on edges.
- Step 4
Into the large skillet or wok, add bok choy leaves and oyster sauce and toss vegetables gently to combine; continue cooking until greens wilt, about 2 more minutes. Serve immediately, topped with crisp mushrooms.
Private Notes
Comments
This is my go-to easy Chinese side dish. Garlic NOT optional, it's pretty boring without it. You can tart it up and make it taste a bit more "Chinese" with shredded ginger, lots of white pepper and a splash of dry sherry. Works with pretty much any green vegetable (cabbage, broccoli, haricots verts, peas of all kinds) and also is lovely with aubergine.
Bok choy throws off so much water I didn't add any liquid to the pan. I also toned down the oyster sauce to 2 tbsp to keep it from being too cloying, and added a tbsp of soy sauce to make up for it in terms of seasoning.
Love this recipe and make it often. I use baby Bok Choy, cut in half. I'm having it for dinner tonight - husband is out of town. He doesn't like lots of garlic or Bok Choy. I like to use sesame oil for the shitakes.
As always, thank you Mr. Bittman!
I did one of those sometimes annoying things and used this recipe as a base to get started and riff on. So, my comments are about what i did, not the recipe per se. 1. I didn’t have oyster sauce so used fish sauce, soy sauce, a tiny bit of sugar, some cornstarch & some of the reconstituted shiitake liquid. 2. I used a BUNCH of minced ginger & 2 cloves of garlic. 3. Didn’t worry about my quantity of fresh shiitake- used a lot. 4. Served on fresh udon noodles. Delish!
I could only find large bok choy at the grocery, so I split 1 in half lengthwise and set aside half to make kimchi. I cut the stalks in 1" lengths and the leaves into ribbons. Sauteed the stalks in oil with scallions cut in 1" pieces and lots of garlic. Then I added the leaves, reconstituted mushrooms and a bit of the soaking water. Simmered away the water and added oyster sauce. The store did not have fresh shiitakes, but the dish was tasty anyway. I'll make again.
Delish! Added tofu in after sautéing the bok choy. The oyster sauce ratio looks out of proportion and too large, but is actually good!
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