Gai Lan (Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce)

Growing up we did not have many family meals. When we were younger and when my grandparents lived with us family meals were more frequent but as my parents discovered the conveniences of Costco and take-out, family meals were few and far between. When we did manage to eat a family meal together, the meal usually consisted of some sort of meat or seafood, a stir-fry, a soup, and some sort of green vegetable cooked with a little oyster sauce.

My dad's eyes literally light up when he sees a plate full of perfectly cooked baby bok choy, pea pod leaves or gai lan. I never understood why we had to order it when we were at a restaurant. $10 for a plate of greens? I usually ignored the humble greens at the table. It wasn't until I moved away from home and to a place where asian vegetables were virtually non-existent that I began to appreciate the ordinary mustard green and gai lan.

For the gai lan I am using a different method than the one I was taught. At home both my parents and my grandparents had outside kitchens equipped with high heat propane burners. The burners were concave so that the rounded wok bottoms would fit perfectly. My mom owns ten regular woks and two insanely large woks. You can deep fry an entire case of McDonald's chicken nuggets in one wok.

In order to do a lot of asian cooking, high heat is a must or the vegetables will be limp and mushy. A few weeks ago, after returning from my road trip, I discovered that my mom had packed a few bundles of baby bok choy for me. I cooked it in my Joyce Chen wok on my western burner. Although the bok choy tasted good, they were not as crisp and crunchy as I remembered.

Every time I go to the asian grocery store I check to see the quality of the vegetables. I've been craving gai lan lately. They have been so sweet this season. Imagine my excitement when I was at H-mart and came across these beauties:


Gai Lan:

1 bunch of fresh gai lan
2 tablespoons oil (mild flavor such as canola or peanut)
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 tablespoon msg
2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1. Bring a large stockpot of water to a boil. Add salt, msg, and oil to the water.
2. Wash the gai lan in cold water. My dad always had us soak the vegetables in a tub of water for at least ten minutes. Because most of the vegetables sold at the asian grocery store were organically grown in someone's backyard, the leafy vegetables always seem to come with a house guest. By soaking, the caterpillars, snails, and other garden pests were forced off the leafy greens.
3. Trim the ends.
4. When the water comes to a boil, place the gai lan in the boiling water. Make sure the tips are at the top. The gai lan should be standing up. Cover the pot and boil for a few minutes until tender. Immediately shock the gai lan in ice water. Drain well.
5. Snip each stalk in half with kitchen shears and arrange on serving platter. Drizzle with oyster sauce.

I find that by cooking the gai lan in boiling water instead of in a westernized wok on a westernized burner, they stay crisp and crunchy.


Below is Mae Krua brand oyster sauce. My pantry is always stocked with Mae Krua and Lee Kum Kee brands of oyster sauce. My mom kept several bottles of these two brands in her very large pantry. I poured the oyster sauce into a prep bowl and used a spoon to drizzle. This way you can control the drizzle.

I snipped the gai lan in half just like how they do it at dim sum. Some people like it with garlic and ginger. I prefer gai lan pretty plain. I use garlic and ginger when I make baby bok choy.

Dinner tonight was done in less than half an hour. Grilled tofu marinated in Mr. Yoshida sauce, gai lan, and jasmine rice. Dessert is another bowl of almond float.