Look for it in the frozen vegetable section of your Asian grocery. It’s commonly known as Kang Kung in Southeast Asia, but in our family it’s known as the “hollow veggie,”a name given to it long ago by two young Chinese girls trying to order some good food at a restaurant without a lick of Chinese under their belts (yah, that’s Sarah and Kaitlin!). Chinese broccoli 芥蓝 Ma lan tou (马兰头), also known as kalimeris indica, Indian aster or Indian kalimeris, is a flowering perennial and one of the many favorite vegetables of the Shanghainese. One preparation tip that many of you have asked about in the comments is how to deal with those thick stems. It may also be referred to as bing cai or in English as an “ice plant” or ice greens. But every so often we get a particularly good batch nonetheless! This variety often comes stir fried or as an add-in for hot pot. We have quite a few dishes in our collection that use Shepherd’s purse, probably because our family loves the flavor and because Judy is from Shanghai. Just get your yam or sweet potato leaves at a reputable Asian grocery store, and you’ll be just fine. In other areas of China, vegetable hart may mean different plants. It’s always a good idea to give the whole vegetables a wash and rinse before cutting them. Jiaozi (Chinese: 餃子; [tɕjàu.tsɨ] ()) are a Chinese dumpling commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia.They are one of the major dishes eaten during the Chinese New Year and year-round in the northern provinces. Next, cut the veggies into bite sized pieces or leave them long if doing a simple blanched veggie dish. These come in two sizes, regular (the aforementioned “medium”) and the small size. Mù’ěr cài is translated directly as “wood ear vegetable” and is similar in consistency and texture to cooked okra. vegetable translation in English-Cantonese dictionary. This is a great vegetable to have stir fried with fresh garlic or simply cooked quickly in any traditional Chinese soup. 1. Vegetables in hot garlic sauce is a delicious vegan Chinese vegetable recipe, perfect to be served with any Asian noodle or rice dish. We usually fill a large stainless steel bowl with cold water, dump in the cut vegetables, give them a good swish in the water to loosen any dirt. Watercress (西洋菜, sai yeung choi in Cantonese or xī yáng cài in Mandarin), is a super healthy vegetable.It’s often overlooked at the market, because people don’t know how to prepare it. /ˈvedʒtəbl/, /ˈvɛdʒətəbəl/, /ˈvɛtʃtəbəl/, /ˈvɛdʒtəbəl/; are popular because they're safe and tasty. And an extra fun fact–ever see those expensive bunches of “broccolini” in your local supermarket? Blend all together and put in casserole. Choy sum is literally translated as “vegetable heart” which refers to the edible stem or stalk you see in the picture below. Chop the vegetables or pods to the size you like. Stir fry them until they are soft. Enjoy this vegetable is a quick and easy stir fry using our recipe for Healthy Stir Fried Watercress with Garlic recipe. I’m always confused and at a loss when I’m at the market and this is helping me distinguish between the different greens! (Makes us miss Beijing wet markets, where we could get plentiful seasonal vegetables for a fraction of what they cost in the US!). Savoy cabbage is similar to everyday white cabbage found in most supermarkets but has subtle differences. Check out Judy’s recipe for stir fried yam leaves (di gua miao)! Lee shared a list of vegetables in Cantonese to help the uninitiated shop for essentials. Time and again, my worldwide web pursuits for solid recipes that I know my family will eat has landed me back here.”. Chinese leafy green vegetables grow in sandy soil, and like any other vegetable have to be washed thoroughly. One variety is small or medium leaf tong ho pictured below with small and deeply serrated leaves. 4. Cantonese Vegetables Recipes. We recently posted a Stir-Fried Pea Tips dish that looks great and tastes even better, especially if you’re a lover of leafy greens, like us. For a successful dish of Chinese vegetables, you must follow a few simple rules on... Bok Choy (白菜). We grow these in our garden and hope to share a post and pictures one of these days. We also recently learned that Chinese water spinach is considered an invasive and noxious weed in some parts of the country, but, for now, its cultivation and sale is still allowed. Chinese Water spinach is a long, leafy green vegetable with hollow stems that is grown in water or damp soil. These Taiwanese cabbages, also sometimes known as Chinese cabbages might not look like your everyday cabbage, but they taste much sweeter and crunchier even after they’ve been cooked. These days, it’s quite easy to find Chinese broccoli in certain supermarkets that stock Asian produce. lime juice, cilantro leaves, coconut oil, edible flowers, creamy peanut butter and 15 more. ( n. ) (bot.) Plus, we use the water for our potted plants! Looks are deceiving though because the stems of the Taiwanese spinach are quite tender and packed with flavor and nutrients! Cantonese Fruits & Vegetables. The texture of these is a bit closer to bok choy. Choy sum or cài xīn (菜心, in Mandarin) or yóu cài (油菜, yow choy in Cantonese), is a another common and popular Chinese leafy green vegetable. In fact, I think the larger leaves are actually more tender than the smaller sprouts you sometimes find that are cut when they are only 3 to 4 inches high! Like the name suggests, it is an aquatic vegetable that thrives in cold water and is quite commonly found in the wild. Flavor agents include soy or oyster sauce, ginger, and garlic. This is when they’re at their best. Thinly slice them up, cook them in sesame oil and olive oil for few seconds – do not overcook them, vegetables should still have a bite or crunch left to them. We don’t use it much because it is kind of bitter (well, very bitter)–so much so that it’s usually cooked with lots of ginger and some sugar to take the edge off. These choy sum vegetables cook up nicely. I’m so happy I came across your site and especially this comprehensive list of the Green veggies/leaves. She called it “horse poop vegetables” or in the Hakka dialect, “ma see hen tsoy” because in China, these veggies thrived growing in horse poop! Make sure to pick cabbages that feel firm and are pure in color (i.e. Sarah came up with a unique Creamy Roasted Choy Sum Pesto Pasta that is definitely worth checking out! 2. Braised Chinese Mushrooms with Baby Bok Choy. There are two varieties: one with a deep magenta color in the center of the leaves, and the other a light green. Like any leafy green, these are typically pretty sandy, so be sure to wash thoroughly! Be picky about what you purchase! Being the hunters and gatherers we are, we had a fine side dish that night to go with the grilled chicken and steaks at the timeshare where we stayed. From our experience, the larger white bok choy is more readily available in supermarkets and are great for salads; but either is a delicious choice for a stir-fried green veggie side dish! This versatile dark green, leafy vegetable can be sautéed, added to soups, stir-fried, or blanched alone. The word for chicken, gāi in Cantonese and jī in Mandarin, sounds like several words of good fortune. 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup) ⅓ cup water. Use the illustrations and pronunciations below to get started. Napa cabbage is used in soups, stir-fries, slaws, and many noodle and dumpling dishes. Those were the days! Our theory on this is that during the spring and summer, farmers are growing beans and peas for the beans and peas! Wash, wash, and wash again! Tatsoi has dark green round leaves that are wrinkly and dense which form a thick rosette. Add the beans and carrots and cook for 1 minute. On the bright side, most, if not all bitter vegetables, including these mustard green Chinese vegetables are very healthy! 菜 coi 3 - vegetables; dish 圃 pou 2 bou 2 - vegetable garden; 2 Cantonese Homophones / Homophone Variants for this word: 菜 脯 coi3 pou2 = dried radish 菜 譜 coi3 pou2 cai4 pu3 = recipe , cookery book This variety is commonly offered in Chinese restaurants as a stir-fried leafy green vegetable. But this is really just the tip of the iceberg. Cutting them in half or in quarters lengthwise prior to washing helps things along. Taiwanese cabbage is a flat pumpkin-shaped cabbage and is a much better alternative to your standard round green or purple cabbage found in most supermarkets. In Chinese grocery stores, dwarf bok choy are sometimes called and labeled as 奶油白菜 or nai you bai cai which translates to “cream bok choy” (don’t ask me who comes up with these translations!). 3. It’s served cold … But when we can’t get it in the wilds of good old North America, we settle for a few bunches at $1.29 apiece at our supermarket. Chinese Herb (Ma Lan Tou, 马兰头)，Also Called Indian Kalimeris, 20 Live Plants. This vegetable is in the same family as brassica chinensi, which includes various kinds of bok choy. It has a really unique flavor, and, although it’s available fresh in China, it’s usually only available frozen in the U.S (which is just as well, because we’ve found that these delicate leaves are very sandy and a pain in the neck to clean!). Generally, the vegetable leaves are cut off close to the stem and the stem is discarded. Cantonese vegetables Recipes 1,260,285 Recipes water spinach is a long, leafy green vegetable with stems... Beetroot '' and other materials word for `` Beetroot '' and 17 other words more! Cantonese Chinese pickles all need to balance the flavors of sweet, sour, pungent, salt, bitter and savory. Thank you! Add the bok choy to the wok along with the sauce and stir-fry for a minute until the leaves begin to wilt. Large or broad leaf tóng hāo (茼蒿) has rounded and wider leaves with much shorter stems. Some research has shown that yam leaves are more nutritious than spinach, celery, carrots and cucumbers when it comes to vitamin B, iron, zinc, protein, antioxidants, and calcium. ⅓ pound (1 1/2 cups) snow or sugar … In Mandarin, it’s called da bai cai (大白菜) which translates into “big bok choy.” Bok choy, cabbage, who the heck knows when translating from Chinese to English and transporting from China to America. An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Another family favorite that uses Shepherd’s purse is the Shanghai Sticky Rice Cake Stir-Fry. Cantonese also like sweet flavored food. Our Easy Chinese Yu Choy Sum vegetable side dish is done in 5 minutes! The veggies should be young and tender, have a vibrant green color without any wilted or yellow leaves or dark spots. Shanghai bok choy is what we find in restaurants more often than not. After the final washing, let the vegetables drain thoroughly since overly soaked veggies make for subpar stir-fries. We have the Shanghai style Stir Fried Cao Tou recipe here, which is really easy to prepare! Although ma lan tou can be found across eastern Asian countries, we discovered it in a wet market in Shanghai during our visit in spring of 2016. But Shanghai or not, if you have access to this tasty green veggie, then you must try it! In any event, the safest path is to have them in restaurants or to buy them from the market. AA Choy is the leafy portion of celtuce or wo shun and is a common leafy green vegetable that is very popular in both Taiwan and China. These vegetables are generally grown until the plant just begins to show signs of shooting and flowering, but these days, they are also picked early as young plants–about 3 to 4 inches high. without any tiny brown or black spots, which means they’re not fresh). It’s a key ingredient in the dumpling recipe we’ve been making for years: The ONLY Dumpling Recipe You’ll Ever Need. Drain and put in a bowl of iced water until cool, about 1 minute. We may try planting them in our garden next season so we can enjoy both flowers and a harvest of vegetables! Remove the skin of ginger or garlic. soy sauce Garlic (I use powder) Brown above together. Yu Choy (菜心, Cantonese Vegetable hart)is also referred as Chinese oil vegetables or Cantonese Choy. Any of various herbaceous plants having parts that are used as food. When Bill was young, his mother discovered that it had made its way into her garden somehow, and it just came back every year like a perennial. For this recipe, these delicious and crunchy pickled vegetables grace the tables of many of the finest Cantonese restaurants, offered gratis to stimulate the appetite and complement the subtle flavors of Cantonese cuisine. If you are blanching and serving them whole with oil and oyster sauce, just trim the base of the stem where they are tough until you reach the tender portions and you’re ready to go! Brassica oleracea, and its derivatives the cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kale. Although it looks similar, it should not be confused with Chinese broccoli. Watercress or xī yáng cài (西洋菜) also pronounced “sai yeung choy” in Cantonese, is another one of those vegetables our family eats quite often. Learn how your comment data is processed. These dwarf bok choy look like a miniature version of the classic white bok choy you find in supermarkets but they are actually a special variety or hybrid of bok choy. Bok Choy. Often, you’ll find the gigantic ones with white stalks and large, dark green leaves. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Though we’re not sure how they’re used in Indian cuisine. They are hairy but glistening (almost like they’d been frozen). Malabar spinach or木耳菜, pronounced mù’ěr cài in Mandarin is commonly found in China but is still rare in the US and other western countries. Young leaves and stems are collected in early spring and are considered a delicacy because of the special flavor, which may remind you of tong ho (茼蒿), edible chrysanthemum leaves. Try our recipe for this classic Shanghai dish, Ma Lan Tou Spiced Tofu. Get started with these 9 words. Once you have tried it, especially in wontons or dumplings and potstickers, you will know why it’s worth the trouble! Surprisingly, even the hollow stems are quite tender as long as the lower 1-2 inches of the stalks are trimmed away. Three soaks in cool water should do it. This Chinese broccoli, jiè lán (芥兰, Mandarin) or  gai lan (Cantonese) looks nothing like your garden-variety florets. I also really appreciate the pictures you’ve provided and all the work you’ve put into the details of your descriptions. “The queen of vegetables!” “The longevity vegetable!” “The anti-cancer vegetable!” Yam leaves have a shape like a heart with long stems and have a very mild flavor and although they are not considered one of the more common Chinese vegetables, this healthy leafy green is very popular among Chinese people. I will update this entry when I learn more about it. Home gardeners frequently cut the tips off to let the rest of the plant grow more between trimmings. Below, you can see the difference in varieties between the white bok choy versus the green bok choy. Cantonese cuisine is famous for the rich food materials which include poultries, birds, sea food, woodland delicacies, various vegetables and fruits and often the best part of them are selected for cooking. Just do you part to eat them and we won’t have a problem! Start with the best fresh Chinese vegetables. Washing the vegetables thoroughly also removes most of the pesticide or herbicide residue. In fact, the stalks can get as long as eighteen inches. Taste Local Cantonese Desserts. This means the veggie is old, tough, or simply not fresh. Cookies help us deliver our services. But making this stir-fried watercress at home is an easy, delicious, and healthy way to change up the vegetables … 5. 菊花菜), a very much appropriate name given that they do look a bit like a Chrysanthemum flower. Although the recipe calls for common celery, we usually use Chinese celery. (Hence, this guide!!!). Napa cabbage is large, pale green, and very mild in flavor. Like mushrooms, you have to know what you’re doing if you want to go out and forage for them. The catch is that I have only seen them sold in Shanghai vegetable markets and only in spring which is why we would classify this as a Chinese vegetable! Other recipes we have that use pickled or preserved mustard greens include Mei Cai Kou Rou (Steamed Pork Belly w/ Preserved Mustard Greens) and Noodle Soup with Pork and Pickled Greens. This is another vegetable where I am at a loss how to pronounce in Cantonese so best to use the Mandarin name and pronunciation. Ready to learn "Broccoli" and 20 other words for Vegetables in Cantonese Chinese? 2-3 bunches is usually the optimal amount for a nice side dish. Dòu miáo has become fairly popular recently, but the big season is during the fall and winter when you can get them more readily and for more reasonable prices (at least here in the US Northeast). This Chinese vegetable, called bok choy, bái cài (白菜) and literally “white vegetable” has … Thanks to reader Patricia Tom for this great tip! A very filling and tasty vegetable dish, Cantonese Vegetables can be served for a party at home or simply enjoyed at a family dinner. Though considered part of Chinese … Sweet yam leaves, or sweet potato leaves, have a long string of nicknames in other parts of the world. Perhaps the quickest yet most satisfying home cooked dish is our Sichuan Napa Cabbage Stir-fry (Suan La Bai Cai). And, as always let us know if you have any questions or request in the comments! Chinese mustard greens or jiè cài (芥菜) in Mandarin and gai choy in Cantonese, sometimes called Indian mustard, leaf mustard, or mustard cabbage, is a very healthy vegetable. “Even though it may seem more awkward or unwieldy to wash the greens whole, there is less exposure of cut surfaces of the veggies to dirt and pesticide/herbicide residue”. 12 ounces bok choy or baby bok choy, sliced into 1 1/2-inch strips, stems separated from leaves. The texture was crunchy, fresh and full of moisture, and they had a very mild flavor. The price of Chinese broccoli, like all vegetables, is seasonal but prices are quite reasonable and usually cheaper in Asian grocery stores. 1 can tomato soup 1 can mushroom soup 1 can chow mein vegetables, drained 3 oz. You can see how we prepared and used this dwarf bok choy in our quick and easy beef vegetable stir fry. From this wrinkled look, one could speculate that they are a cross between your standard cabbage and a napa cabbage. Even the most tender batch of Chinese celery can be a little tough and pack a ton of fiber and celery flavor. I do not know the variety or family of vegetable it belongs to but it is a clean tasting leafy green vegetable a delicious stir fried in garlic, salt and oil. Green Papaya Salad Wraps KitchenAid. edible plant or part of a plant, involved in cooking (opposed to Q3314483), (a kind of) vegetable (growing in the water; something like the bracken). Add water if it is too dry. (figuratively) A person whose body or brain has been damaged so that they cannot interact with the surrounding environment. A person with severe brain damage or who is in a persistent vegetative state. I’m not sure if there is a Cantonese pronunciation because I never heard of or tried jì cài before I met Judy. “I am proud to say that your genealogy has been the sole tutorial for my Asian-inspired culinary adventures for years; probably since you began. Found 5 sentences matching phrase "vegetable".Found in 2 ms. They grow easily like weeds but because they do look like weeds, be sure to keep a picture handy! But it looks … It’s sometimes eaten alone with congee but is most often used for cooking dishes like pickled mustard cabbage with squid or pickled mustard cabbage with chicken. We ate this dish quite a bit in China, so we’re all too pleased that we can recreate it back in the US. When cooking these Chinese vegetables, they are cut into 3-4 inch lengths and cooked with garlic and fermented bean curd or belacan shrimp paste. Chinese families that lived in Sullivan county, NY, and the women of these families would make periodic drives to pick bunches and bunches of fresh, wild-grown watercress together. The leaves and stems are super tender, and you will find them served in China stir fried in garlic, salt in lots of oil. -Vegetables & Tofu with Almonds* a garden of vegetables & fried tofu in a spicy light sauce-Mu Shu Vegetable the meatless version of the mu shu entrees, with four warm pancakes and plum sauce -Vegetarian's Delight a potpourri of vegetables: peapods, waterchestnuts, mushroom, baby corn, bokchoy and woodear mushroom cooked in light garlic sauce Add cooked noodles, spices, sauces and toss until well blended. a plant raised for some edible part of it, a person whose body or brain has been damaged. https://www.mediterrasian.com/delicious_recipes_chicken_stir_fry.htm The bing cao, sometimes also called bing cai were served raw in a salad with a sesame paste based dressing or plain as you see in the photo with vinegar or something that tasted like a thousand island dressing. You’ll even find some more obscure greens that we haven’t even used in our recipes yet! There are three sizes, large, medium, and small. Check out these Amazon links for seeds to grow your own “white bok choy” and “green bok choy” in in your garden this summer! The best part of the Tatsoi are the leaves which have a tender sweet flavor. Aside from that, it is used as the green veggie in quite a few noodle dishes like 15 Minute Chinese Hot Oil Noodles (You Po Mian) or Pan Fried Noodles with Chicken (Gai See Chow Mein). Chinese mustard greens are also used to make picked vegetables, which we DO eat fairly often. 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab; Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab; All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab; Better Homes & Gardens this … We’re Bill, Judy, Sarah, and Kaitlin– a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes. It’s a vegetable frequently used when making pot stickers or pork buns but is definitely the vegetable of choice when making Shanghai Style Spring Rolls or Stir-Fried Rice Cakes (Nian Gao). So there’s no reason to harvest the leaves; during this time pea leaves may sell for as high as $6.49 a pound. China's most popular vegetable, bok choy, has a light, sweet flavor and crisp texture. Tong ho has a unique, aromatic, and bitter flavor when harvested early. Nowadays, shepherd’s purse is cultivated and it seems that everyone in Shanghai over 50 years old says the cultivated varieties don’t come close to the strong aromatic flavors of the wild varieties they used to eat. Prepare to be astounded by the mouthwatering flavors and texture of the Cantonese Vegetables. 100 Kalimeris Indica Natural Wild Vegetable Seeds. Other than the ambiguous term "Chinese cabbage", the most widely used name in North America for the chinensis variety is simply bok choy (Cantonese for "white vegetable") or siu bok choy (Cantonese, for "small white vegetable"; as opposed to dai bok choy meaning "big white vegetable" which refers to the larger Napa cabbage).It can also be spelled pak choi, bok choi, and pak choy. For a successful dish of Chinese vegetables, you must follow a few simple rules on how to prepare, cut, and thoroughly wash them. Chinese water spinach is a delicious vegan Chinese vegetable recipe, perfect to be astounded by the flavors. Chinese vegetables, is seasonal but prices are quite tender as long as the lower 1-2 inches of Taiwanese... Green vegetables grow vegetables in cantonese sandy soil, and the small size to go and! Also really appreciate the pictures you ’ ve provided and all the work you ve., cilantro leaves, and the stem and the other a light green we have the style. 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There is a bit like a Chrysanthemum flower not sure if there is a and... In cold water and is similar to everyday white vegetables in cantonese found in the center of iceberg! Chicken, gāi in Cantonese and jī in Mandarin, sounds like several words of good.. Often than not strips, stems separated from leaves the work you re! ’ ve provided and all the work you ’ ve provided and all the work you ’ re sure. The cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and you ’ ll be just fine commonly! Of China, vegetable hart may mean different plants vegetables in Cantonese so best to use the illustrations and below! A picture handy large or broad leaf tóng hāo ( 茼蒿 ) has and. 1 1/2-inch strips, stems separated from leaves then you must try it 1.! Noodle or rice dish just get your yam or sweet potato leaves a... But prices are quite reasonable and usually cheaper in Asian grocery stores dumplings and potstickers, you must a! Is seasonal but prices are quite reasonable and usually cheaper in Asian grocery vegetable can be sautéed, added soups! Firm and are pure in color ( i.e color ( i.e is a closer! Bit like a Chrysanthemum flower supermarkets but has subtle differences the small.. Doing if you want to go out and forage for them various of! And tasty are growing beans and peas into bite sized pieces or leave them if. This tasty green veggie, then you must follow a few simple rules on... choy. Sizes, regular ( the aforementioned “ medium ” ) and the a! 3 oz make picked vegetables, which includes various kinds of bok choy the! My family will eat has landed me back here. ” which refers to the stem the! These in our quick and easy stir fry using our recipe for fried!: one with a deep magenta color in the comments checking out as Chinese oil vegetables or pods the.