Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Chinese vegetables

eatingwitheddie
 Share

Recommended Posts

Akiko

Akiko

Posted
Posted

There is a vegetable that I order in the states that I think is called something like kong shin tsai.... at least that is what I say and I get the right thing (my friend translates it as "hollow vegetable")...

but everytime I say that here in London, I just get blank stares. Is it called something else? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

It is one of my favorites stirfried simply in oil and garlic... maybe a little ginger or chili too.

Amedama on the Go Go!
Vanessa

Vanessa

Posted
Posted
There is a vegetable that I order in the states that I think is called something like kong shin tsai.... at least that is what I say and I get the right thing (my friend translates it as "hollow vegetable")...

but everytime I say that here in London, I just get blank stares.  Is it called something else?  Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

It is one of my favorites stirfried simply in oil and garlic... maybe a little ginger or chili too.

Akiko - long hollow stems with thinnish, pointy leaves at the end? Sold as Morning Glory in Thai shops? Also known as something like water convolvulus, or even water spinach I think?

v

Jinmyo

Jinmyo

Posted
Posted

Tong choy? Water spinach? I love this with tofu and massive quantities of slivered ginger and white pepper.

Baby Shanghai bok choy have to be my all 'round favourite for succulence.

Generally, I prefer Asian vegetables to any Western vegetable.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Suzanne F

Suzanne F

Posted
Posted

Pea shoots! All the flavor of peas (and more!) without the potential for nastiness. Sautéed with a little -- or a lot -- of garlic.

And any other Asian veg with a bitter edge.

Rhea_S

Rhea_S

Posted
Posted

Aside from baby bok choy and pea shoots, gai lan or chinese broccoli is a favourite. I like it with oyster sauce and lots of garlic.

Jon Tseng

Jon Tseng

Posted
Posted (edited)

GARLIC SHOOTS

Wonderful "meaty" texture and a beguiling flavour

It is a crime that restaurants hardly ever serve them in the UK

J

PS also good chinese chives (jiu cai) esp. in jiaozi. Gai lan also has a lovely texture but don't like the taste as niceas garlic shoots

Edited by Jon Tseng (log)
More Cookbooks than Sense - my new Cookbook blog!
Rhea_S

Rhea_S

Posted
Posted
GARLIC SHOOTS

Wonderful "meaty" texture and a beguiling flavour

I agree. I completely forgot about garlic shoots because I don't find them in the stores too often. One of my favourite ways of eating them is sauteed with rice sticks and shredded chicken -- very simple but comforting.

torakris

torakris

Posted
Posted

I definitely can't pick one

garlic stems

pea shoot

baby bok choy

garlic chives

water spinach (I am not sure of the Chinese name either I usually find it by the Chinese characters for "open heart")

Kristin Wagner, aka "torakris"

 

eatingwitheddie

eatingwitheddie

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
There is a vegetable that I order in the states that I think is called something like kong shin tsai.... at least that is what I say and I get the right thing (my friend translates it as "hollow vegetable")...

but everytime I say that here in London, I just get blank stares.  Is it called something else?  Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

It is one of my favorites stirfried simply in oil and garlic... maybe a little ginger or chili too.

Sounds like 'ong choy' - NO HEART VEGETABLE - gets it's name from the hollow straw-like stems.

eatingwitheddie

eatingwitheddie

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
GARLIC SHOOTS

Wonderful "meaty" texture and a beguiling flavour

I agree. I completely forgot about garlic shoots because I don't find them in the stores too often. One of my favourite ways of eating them is sauteed with rice sticks and shredded chicken -- very simple but comforting.

Garlic shoots are often called garlic scapes. In NYC the best place to get them is at the greenmarket during the springtime.

Louisa Chu

Louisa Chu

Posted
Posted

The long beans. I never thought I'd crave these but I find myself wanting green beans sauteed with stinky, funky fermented tofu. One of my mom's favourites, hated it as a kid, want it now.

Movable Feast
eatingwitheddie

eatingwitheddie

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted (edited)
Chinese longbeans with sweet soy enriched beef glaze (cornstarched quick beef stock) and fried garlic chips....

What do you enjoy about a longbean that you don't get frrom a string bean? I've never really gotten it. I find that the texture of long beans never seems to please me, plus the little beans growing in the pod are often more mature than I would like.

Edited by eatingwitheddie (log)
pjs

pjs

Posted
Posted

I love bok choy--or is it chinese cabbage--and don't discard the green part as most of my chinese cookbooks tell me to. I think I will visit my Asian grocer tomorrow and demand some baby bok choy.

Fresh green beans work so well in recipies for long beans that I've never tried to source the real thing.

PJ

"Epater les bourgeois."

--Lester Bangs via Bruce Sterling

(Dori Bangs)

anil

anil

Posted
Posted (edited)

baby bok choy

Chinese Watercress

Chinese Spinach

ye heung fa

In no order of preference.

Edited by anil (log)

anil

Chef/Writer Spencer

Chef/Writer Spencer

Posted
Posted
Chinese longbeans with sweet soy enriched beef glaze (cornstarched quick beef stock) and fried garlic chips....

What do you enjoy about a longbean that you don't get frrom a string bean? I've never really gotten it. I find that the texture of long beans never seems to please me, plus the little beans growing in the pod are often more mature than I would like.

When longbeans are wilted down (either by stirfrying or "braising" in liquid) and then are glazed with a flavored cornstarch slurry they get pleasantly chewy--not rubbery like the boring green bean. I love green beans raw, not so well cooked. It's totally a question of personal preference, of course. There's a restaurant around the corner from me that put long beans as described on their buffet and they rock out...

anil

anil

Posted
Posted

ye heung fa

What's this please?

Don't know ! It was some kind of flowers with small leaves - I had these in HKG mostly. Never quite saw anything like it in the markets here in NYC. I'll probe my HKG friends if they can translate to an occidental equivalent.

anil

Elissa

Elissa

Posted
Posted

ye heung fa

What's this please?

Don't know ! It was some kind of flowers with small leaves - I had these in HKG mostly. Never quite saw anything like it in the markets here in NYC. I'll probe my HKG friends if they can translate to an occidental equivalent.

:blink: HKG hong kong garden?

Flowering greens : may I ask how you'd prepare them simply, steamed with a soy sauce, piece of fish and timbals. Or if you would.

:smile:

Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons: That is all there is to distinguish us from the other Animals.

-Beaumarchais

Elissa

Elissa

Posted
Posted
GARLIC SHOOTS

Wonderful "meaty" texture and a beguiling flavour

I agree. I completely forgot about garlic shoots because I don't find them in the stores too often. One of my favourite ways of eating them is sauteed with rice sticks and shredded chicken -- very simple but comforting.

Garlic shoots are often called garlic scapes. In NYC the best place to get them is at the greenmarket during the springtime.

What do garlic shoots look like?

Drinking when we are not thirsty and making love at all seasons: That is all there is to distinguish us from the other Animals.

-Beaumarchais

eatingwitheddie

eatingwitheddie

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

What do garlic shoots look like?

They're green and long (a foot or more) and curvy and often tangled, and they have a bud at one the end. In NYC Chinese markets one often finds similar but different shoots. I'm particularly thinking of 2 things: flowering Chiense chives and yellow leeks.

 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...