These delicious Chinese Greens cook simply and quickly. This way the delicate greens are not swimming in salty or sweet sauce, where you can’t taste the vegetable at all. When the Yu Choy is fresh, you don’t even need salt or sugar – the chicken broth will add enough saltiness. So Good!
Why This Chinese Greens Recipe Is So Good
- A healthy and delicious side dish
- Quick to make – less than 10 mins from pantry to table
- Fresh Chinese Greens deliver wonderful texture
Ingredients
- Chinese greens
- Garlic cloves
- Oil
- Vegetable or chicken broth
How To Make These Chinese Greens – Step By Step
- Heat the oil in your wok until hot. Turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic cloves to the oil and fry until the cloves are golden brown (but not burnt!). This will flavor the oil.
- Add the Yu Choy, stir so that each stalk gets a light coating of the garlic-flavored oil. Add the chicken broth and immediately cover. Let the vegetable steam for 3 1/2 minutes until tender. The Yu Choy should still be bright green, the stalks should be soft and still have a nice bite to it.
What Are Chinese Greens?
Chinese Greens, or Yu Choy, looks a lot like the Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan), except that the Yu Choy stalks are skinnier and the flowers are yellow (Gai Lan has white flowers). This vegetable is tender, the taste of the leaves are very much like spinach leaves, even though it is part of the mustard family. Fresh Yu-Choy has small tight yellow flowers, bright green leaves and stems, and if you look at the bottom of the bunch of stems, they should not be dried out.
(photo from https://www.worldcrops.org)
Are Chinese Greens Good For You?
Chinese greens are a rich source of the carotenes lutein and zeaxanthin, both known to protect eye health. Thanks to their rich green colors, Asian greens also contain a wealth of the mineral magnesium, which is involved in healthly muscle function. Most Asian greens are very rich in the B-vitamin folate.
What To Serve With These Chinese Greens
This is such a simple and fresh side, it goes well with a host of dishes. Why not try it with Beef And Broccoli Stir Fry or with Thai Pork Chops in Ginger Coconut Sauce – so good!
Top Tips For Chinese Greens
- Select the freshest greens available in your market
- When cooking fresh vegetables like this, the heat of your wok should stay at medium to medium-high. If the heat is too hot, the broth may evaporate too quickly and your vegetables may burn. To low, and your vegetables will cook too slowly and you will lose your bright green coloring of the vegetable.
- You can cook other vegetables the same way, just adjust the amount of broth you add accordingly. Thicker stems need more broth and more steam time.
- If you are like me, and you love to eat soft, tender, mild garlic cloves, you can add more cloves. Because they are toasted in the oil and then cooked with the vegetables, the garlic turns into a sweet nugget of flavor without the sting of minced garlic.
Check Out These Other Delicious Side Dishes
Bok Choy Recipe- Chinese Broccoli Recipe
- Green Bean and Shiitake Mushroom Stir Fry
- Roast Cauliflower Recipe with Bacon and Garlic
Have you tried this Chinese Greens Recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Chinese Greens (Yu Choy) Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound Chinese greens called yu choy, cut into 3-inch lengths
- 4 -6 cloves garlic whole
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth
Instructions
- Heat the oil in your wok until hot. Turn the heat to medium. Add the garlic cloves to the oil and fry until the cloves are golden brown (but not burnt!). This will flavor the oil.
- Add the Yu Choy, stir so that each stalk gets a light coating of the garlic-flavored oil. Add the chicken broth and immediately cover. Let the vegetable steam for 3 1/2 minutes until tender. The Yu Choy should still be bright green, the stalks should be soft and still have a nice bite to it.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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My grandfather too also grew an assortment of Asian vegetables in his backyard. He would harvest them and take the bus to Chinatown in Seattle and sell them to a small mom and pop grocery store. One of my favorite memories as a kid was going to Chinatown with my parents to go pick him up and get dim sum.
great
Just made it and it was delicious.
I want to read this but I haven’t started it yet. I will in the future.
It was surprisingly good especially when paired with a heavily flavored dish. I didn’t have real chicken broth and didn’t want to use chicken chicken bouillon (artificial) so I used dried shrimp (soaked in water for 5 minutes) instead. It was still delicious.
It’s a keeper.
Thanks so much Mindy!
I miss China and can’t wait to go back, I first tried Yu Chow in Nanning and love it, I wish I could find a store where the Yu Chow was young and tender (flowers just starting to open), I find that this is when they are at their peck for flavor.
Love your Recipe and will share it.
Thanks
My favorite Korean market here in Nashville, Tennessee had gai lan on ice but it didn’t look very appetizing. I really wanted it. I found bags of yu choy nearby that looked better so I bought it instead. Bye-bye, gai lan! Yu choy will be my first pick. It was tender and delicious and barely took eight minutes to braise in peanut oil with garlic powder (had no fresh on hand), onion, salt, and pepper. Oh my, what a delicious, nutritious treat!
Wow! So simple to do but, Naturally Delicious. Thank you for a beautiful healthy tips.
I skin garlic and drop a few in olive oil for a few days. This gives me a great supply of garlic olive oil whenever I want it!
Thanks for the wonderfully simple recipe! I made this to accompany some broiled sea-scallops with butter/wine sauce and angelhair pasta (for my wife’s b-day dinner.) We loved it! I agree with your mom—when you can get fresh greens, they are best enjoyed crunchy and colorful without totally obscuring their own flavors.
I will definitely investigate your page more, as I need ideas for other Asian greens, like water spinach, gai lan, hmong gai choy, etc.
Just got yu choy for the first time at the farmer’s market. LOVE your recipes and your writing style. And sweeeeet to find another garlic lover.
From the beginning your blog was trash. But now it is great. I hope you gonna keep writing that way.
i am totally drooling.