Choy Sum with Oyster sauce, garlic and peanuts

This Asian-style side dish is courtesy of my friend Caroline –  fellow foodie; coffee buddy, and all round ‘obstinate, headstrong girl’. She’s one of about 3 people on the planet who gets it when I quote Jane Austen, and who can quote back.

It’s not her own recipe, but one of Ottolenghi’s that she got from a newspaper. I had it, all by itself for lunch today… Thanks CP!

NUT ALERT!

This recipe has peanuts as an ingredient.

Our house is a nut-free zone, simply because we have a family member with a nut allergy.

However I knew just by reading this recipe that it would need a crunch element, so I checked out my cupboards and roasted a tin of haricot beans. It was surprisingly successful – sadly they don’t taste of peanuts, but after 15 minutes in a hot oven they were nicely crunchy and savoury. The recipe for them is at the bottom of this page, but if roasted peanuts are safe for you, I think you should use them!

EQUIPMENT:

• Large frying pan or wok
• saucepan with steamer basket
• warmed serving plate

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 tablespoons of oil (I used sunflower)
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced

• 3cm piece ginger in julienne strips

• 3 thinly pared strips of orange peel (no white pith!), cut into julienne strips – use a vegetable peeler or zester. I used the peel of half an orange.

• 20g unsalted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

 

• 400g Choy Sum, separated and washed. Stalks cut into  5cm pieces, leaves left whole.
• 1 dessert spoon of oyster sauce
• 2tblsp light soy sauce (I used reduced salt soy sauce) mixed together.

METHOD:

• Put the serving plate into a warming oven
• Put the prepared Choy Sum into a steamer basket – put the stalks at the bottom, and the leaves on top then set aside.

• Fry garlic, orange skin, ginger and nuts in hot oil for 2-3 mins, until the garlic slices go a light golden colour, then move the whole lot, including the oil, to a small bowl

 

 

• Add boiling water to the saucepan and steam the choy sum for 90 secs, turn the leaves over a few times, then remove to a serving dish

• Put the frying pan back onto a high heat,
• Pour the sauces into the pan and heat through for 10-15 secs. They’ll bubble up immediately when they hit the hot pan.
• Pour  the sauce over the leaves, then sprinkle the ginger/garlic mixture over the top.

• serve at once.

NOTES:

• You’ll find Choy Sum beside the Pak Choy in the supermarket. It comes in 200g packs.
• Don’t add any salt – you won’t need it.
• This would be a great side dish with any Asian main course, but it’s really tasty by itself too

ROASTED BEANS:

• Drain a 400g tin of haricot beans
• Rinse really well under running water then dry on kitchen paper
• Put a tablespoon of rapeseed oil to a small, sealable freezer bag.

• Add the beans and shake to coat with the oil.
• Add a teaspoon of plain flour and a good sprinkle of ground paprika, and shake again.
• Spread the beans over a baking tray in a single layer.
• Roast at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, turning once during cooking.

• Remove and use as nuts in the recipe above.