Simmered Chinese Endives
This is a Chinese vegetables side dish of local endives. The variety of endives I used for this recipe is labelled as “pa bo chye” at the supermarket. The Chinese words for it is “皇白菜”. There are many similar varieties of local endives which you can use in place of this variety, such as “九白菜”, “王白菜” & “贸白菜”. I’m quite confused by all the various names & varieties of local endives. I can’t identify all the various variety by taste or without a label. So in my mind, I just labelled all of them as “endives” since the cooking method is the same :P
See Also:
I call this a “soupy stir-fry”. My method of cooking is first stir frying the stems and garlic, then simmering the leafy greens. So in this recipe, there is no need to worry about the lack of wok hei. After cooking, the stems are tender and there is some mushroom broth to enjoy as well.
I like Chinese endives for the ease of preparation. Unlike some veggies such as Chinese spinach, it does not have fibrous stems which require the strings at the stems to be pulled and discarded. Just lay the endives flat on a chopping board. Then cut them horizontally to equal short sections.
After that, make a few cuts vertically to cut the endives to shorter sections. I always see Teppanyaki chefs cut endives this way so this is a copied method.
Easy Simmered Endives Recipe
This recipe uses mushroom seasoning powder (vegetarian & MSG-free) as the main seasoning. You can substitute it with light soy sauce, salt and/or fish sauce if you have the powder.
If you find endives bitter, you can also add 1 tsp sugar to the wok.
Ingredients:
- 1 large bag (350-400g) local endives (“pa bo chye”/皇白菜 or similar variety)
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 tbsp mushroom seasoning powder may substitute with light soy sauce, fish sauce &/or salt
- 3 dashes white pepper powder to taste
- 75 ml water
- 1 tbsp Chinese wine (Hua Diao/Shaoxing)
- small pinch of salt to taste; only if needed
Directions:
- Cut endives. Lay endives flat on a chopping board. Cut and discard the bottom ends. Slice the endives to smaller sections horizontally, then vertically (see pictures here). Separate the stems from the leaves. Wash and spin dry.
- Cook the endives. Heat oil in a wok pan. Add garlic and stir fry briefly until light golden. Add endives stems and stir-fry until soften. Add the remaining leaves, mushroom seasoning powder, white pepper, water and Chinese wine. Stir fry until the leaves wither, cover with lid and simmer for 1 minute, or soften to liking. Season the broth with a pinch salt, only if needed.