moonvoice | [PotD] Dinner.

We ate simple tonight.
Just some individual bok choy plants (four)
and ramen noodles
with soy, chilli and oyster sauce and the packet flavouring.
It was nommy.

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From:

cmcmck

Simple is sometimes best!

Yum! :o)

From:

moonvoice

I love simple, particularly with good, fresh ingredients. Perth is lucky to be quite a foodie state these days, since we have Mediterranean climate and soil in some places. But every now and then I love making a good, complex curry, or something like that too. :D

From:

cmcmck

Have you ever tried cooking with lettuce? No, seriously! I have part Italian ancestry and in Umbria where that part of the family originated they get the little tiny sweetheart lettuces (those wee ones that are all heart?) leave them whole and simply roast them in a low oven for a short time- they become sweet and glorious and go with all sorts of things. It's also a great way to cook witloof (okay so I lived in Flemish Belgium for some years- you'd call them endives :o)

From:

moonvoice

I love witloof, though I prefer lettuce raw on the rare occasions I do have it (I don't actually enjoy the taste of lettuce very much, raw or cooked, and about the only one I can tolerate is iceberg - though I will sometimes shred that and put it in a rice noodle soup in lieu of wombok or spring onions. :) )

Witloof is very hard to get here, which is frustrating!

From:

cmcmck

Iceberg is no flavour and all water to me- I love Romaine (sometimes called cos) and the little sweetheart because they just have so much flavour. Lambs lettuce is fab too when I can get hold of it. My Italian ancestry often craves lollo rosso and lolla verde.

Witloof is easy here as we're right next door to Belgium where they grow rather a lot!

From:

moonvoice

I can usually find witloof about once or twice a year (alas). Cos is one of the ones I can't have. I just find it extraordinarily bitter. I've read that some people find the bitter properties of lettuce too overwhelming (just as I've read that some people read certain chemicals in brassicas like broccoli and cauliflower as bitter, which means they can't ever taste the sweetness of it - so some people just genuinely cannot enjoy broccoli etc.) I know a lot of people find iceberg terribly bland, I do as well, we only get it about a handful of times a year.

I prefer the sweeter leafy greens - baby spinach and pretty much the majority range of Asian greens (bok choy, pak choy, wombok, gailan etc.) But I have a soft spot for celery too. :D

From:

cmcmck

I know what you mean about taste/scent reaction. I have an egg allergy and even the smell of it when cooking can turn my stomach, or someone with an egg sandwich close to me. All I smell is sulphur, sulphur, sulphur! Horrible.

From:

moonvoice

Oh man, that must be insufferable. A strong reaction like that actually reminds me of how I react to a certain brand of tinned fruit salad - had gastro / stomach virus one time and that was what I was sick on, and can't eat it or smell it at all. It's like the body has a way of hardwiring some of that stuff in! But I am quite fortunate, I don't see that brand often or encounter it - whereas eggs are just considered a staple for many at picnics and get-togethers and breakfasts and so forth, that must be awful.

From:

jensurvivor

That does look nommy. For lunch I am having a latke, some squash soup, coleslaw and maybe hummus with pitas.

From:

moonvoice

That sounds delicious! :D

From:

redsixwing

Bok choy with noodles is a wonderful thing. Yum!

From:

moonvoice

It is a wonderful, wonderful thing. And so cheap.

From:

cosmicunknown

That looks delicious!

From:

moonvoice

It was very nommy! Yay! :D

From:

foxboi

Ooh that looks tasty. I might have to try replicating this!

From:

moonvoice

It's super easy! I put the steps down in a comment further down, but honestly, any way would work provided the bok choy is stir-fried quickly. :)

From:

foxboi

Tried it, and success was had.
Thanks for the culinary ideas!
http://fleetfootfox.tumblr.com/post/41483369286/stir-fried-bok-choy-kale-green-peppers-and

From:

moonvoice

Looks delicious! :D :D Hope it's even tastier than it looks. :D

From:

foxboi

It was definitely tastier than it looks, considering it's stuffed into a plastic tub XD.
That's a recipe I'll be making again!

From:

fadedwings

That looks really good!

From:

moonvoice

It was good! My favourite part is that it's cheap (something that's relevant for us right now) and quick (something that's relevant to my laziness, lol).

From:

calissa

Nom!

From:

moonvoice

Om nom nom!

From:

silverjackal

Bok choy is always wonderful. :)

From:

moonvoice

I love bok choy, it's a lovely sweet vegetable, and I could eat heaps and heaps of it - easily could eat 2 or 3 whole plants in a single sitting.

From:

spider_fox

I know this is a silly question, but how do you make that?

I tend to make the ramen soup-like, so basically I'm wondering how you got the flavoring to mix and dissolve without having it be in a lot of water.

And also, do you just toss the bok choy straight in there or do you have to cook it a certain way beforehand? I never had bok choy before.

From:

moonvoice

I use cup noodles and then mix up the packets normally, and then drain the majority of the fluid with a fork. (If I use packet noodles, then I just drain it all in a colander and add all the flavouring afterwards). Because some of the flavouring is lost, I'll supplement with soy and oyster sauce. :)

But basically I:

- boil kettle and put oil in wok
- put in all pre-chopped bok choy in wok with soy / oyster sauce
- put boiled water in cup noodles
- stir fry bok choy for 2 minutes
- drain noodles
- add to wok / stir-fry together.
- eat!

Not including time to chop / wash bok choy, it doesn't take more than about 5 or 6 minutes to make.

You could probably actually keep the liquid from the cup noodles. But I tend to drain it off because it's so sodium heavy already, that I don't actually eat the broth with packet / cup ramen the majority of the time. That's just a personal choice though. If you like the broth, you could keep it separate, and then add it to a bowl at the end, with the noodles and bok choy. :) Either way would be delicious!

As for bok choy, it's so easy to stir fry. You just cut the base off, cut it off where the leaves meet the stems, and then cook it on a hot surface for a very minimal amount of time since it tastes better semi-crunchy anyway. Good bok choy is sweetish, with a nice crunchy taste, and an ability to marry with soy and oyster sauce (and garlic) really well. :) In fact, sometimes we have it on its own or as a side dish, just stir-fried for two or three minutes at high heat, and then added to a dish without anything else. It's one of my favourite vegetables since it cooks so quickly and it's really versatile.

A sweeter Asian green is gailan (gai lan / kailan / Chinese broccoli), that takes a little bit longer to stir-fry. And wombok, which is chinese cabbage is really delicious too. They all really only take about 2-5 minutes to stir-fry. :)

From:

spider_fox

Thank you so much for this :) I'm trying to expand my food horizons along with increasing the variety of produce in my diet, so simple stuff like this helps a lot.

From:

moonvoice

Awesome! :D It is simple, and once you get the hang of it, it'll be one of the fastest (and healthier) things you can make. And a good way to get some leafy greens into your diet along with filling ramen (I love ramen, I don't care how unhealthy it is, particularly when I'm eating it like this).

Also, I wanted to say - I don't think it's silly to ask about these things at all! We all have to start somewhere!