Cold Sesame Pak Choi Recipes

Steps:

• Steam or boil pak choi to desired doneness (we like ours to still be a bit firm).
• Drain choi in a colander and use a wooden spoon to push the choi against the sides of the colander and squeeze out as much water as possible.
• Once choi is as dry as possible, whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and green onions in a glass or ceramic bowl. Add choi and toss to coat.
• Allow to chill in the fridge for one hour.
• Just before serving, add the sesame oil and sesame seeds and toss to coat. Enjoy!

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a wok or large saucepan. Add the onion and stir-fry for 5 mins until turning golden. Add the garlic, ginger, chicken, pak choi and sesame seeds, and stir-fry for 5 mins or until the chicken is cooked.
• Mix the cornflour with the soy sauce, chilli sauce and lemon juice. Add to the pan and stir-fry for 1 min. Serve straight away with extra soy sauce and egg noodles or rice, if you like.

Steps:

• Cut 3 heads of pak choi in half lengthways. Steam for 3 mins or until just wilted. Dress with some sliced red chilli if you like, or if you're cooking the twice cooked sticky duck recipe, dress with the simmered stock.

Steps:

• Cut a thick slice from the pak choi root to separate the leaves. Rinse and drain.
• Heat the groundnut oil in a large wok over a medium heat and add 1 tbsp sesame oil, the garlic, chilli, fish sauce (if using) and pak choi. Toss until coated and clamp a pan lid over them. Reduce the heat and cook for 3-6 minutes, tossing occasionally, just until the leaves have wilted (the stalks should be tender-crisp).
• Add the rest of the sesame oil and salt. Toss the leaves and serve immediately.

Steps:

• Heat a large lightly oiled non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Dip the tuna steaks into the sesame seeds, coating evenly on both sides.
• When the pan is very hot, add the steaks and cook for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
• Meanwhile remove the pak choi leaves from their stalks and set aside.
• Place the remaining ingredients into a bowl and mix well to make the dressing.
• Remove the steaks from the pan and set aside in a warm place.
• Put the pak choi leaves into the pan and add 4 tablespoons of cold water, return the pan to the heat and boil until the water evaporates and the pak choi is just tender.
• Place the pak choi onto serving plates and top with the tuna.
• Drizzle with the dressing and serve immediately, garnished with lime wedges and chopped fresh red chili.

Steps:

• Soak the vermicelli in hot water for 30 minutes. It must be fully soaked.
• Boil the chicken leg for 15 to 30 minutes. We are not going to use the leg. We are going to need the soup. You can use the leg for other dishes. In my recipes, there is one dish which particularly needs boiled chicken leg. It is called Spicy and Sour Shredded Chicken. It is a cold dish. If you don't want to use the chicken leg, you can use hot water as the soup.
• During the time when the vermicelli is soaking, we could prepare the others. Hand shred the pak choi into pieces. Peel the garlic skin off and chop it into minces. Rind the peanuts( I used peanuts, but feel free to directly use peanut kernel. make sure that you keep the red skin). Cut the coriander into 2 cm long.
• Use a pan to warm the sesame seeds. Make sure that you use the smallest fire, but cook it for 5 to 10 minutes.
• You could use the same pan to fry the peanut kernels. Firstly, put 2 teaspoons of sunflower oil and warm it. Put the peanut kernel in, and cook it again for 5 to 10 minutes. Again, use medium or small fire.
• Now, all the preparations are done. If you like soft vermicelli, you can boil it for 5 minutes. If you like hard ones, then just skip it. However, you need to boil the pak choi for 1-2 minutes. After that, pour all water away, put the vermicelli in a bowl and put the boiled pak choi on it.
• Put 4 teaspoons of sunflower oil into a wok. Warm it, and then put in cayenne pepper and thick broad bean sauce( If you really like spicy like I do, 1 teaspoon of thick broad bean sauce wouldn't be enough, you can put more. I put 5). Make sure that you use the smallest fire.
• Wait till the cayenne pepper and thick broad bean sauce are dissolved in the oil, and you can see the oil turned to red. Put in the chicken soup which is made before( hot water would also be fine).
• Change the fire into the biggest, and wait till the soup is boiled. Put in the Chinese red pepper powder, five spice powder, light soy sauce, rice vinegar( other vinegar is also fine, just make sure it is dark one, not the white one), and salt. Cook for 30-60 seconds more, and turn off the fire.
• Pour the soup into the bowl with vermicelli till the soup overflow the vermicelli. Last, put in the warmed sesame seeds, the fried peanuts, the chopped garlic, and the coriander. Actually, these four are not necessary. You can choose according to your tastes.
• Enjoy your Hot and Sour Rice Noodles. If it is not hot enough, you can put more cayenne pepper. If it is not Sour enough, you can put more vinegar. It is OK to add more of these two things afterwards.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and put 2 skinless salmon fillets in a shallow baking dish.
• Mix 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp mirin or dry sherry, 2 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tsp finely grated ginger in a small bowl and pour over the salmon so the fillets are completely covered. Bake for 10 mins.
• Meanwhile, cook the pack choi. Cut a slice across the base of 2 large pak choi so the leaves separate.
• Heat 2 tsp vegetable oil and 2 tsp sesame oil in a wok, add 3 grated garlic cloves and stir-fry briefly to soften.
• Add the pak choi and fry until the leaves start to wilt. Pour over 75ml fish or vegetable stock, tightly cover the pan and allow to cook for 5 mins - you're aiming for the stems to be tender but still have a bit of bite.
• Serve the pak choi in shallow bowls, top with the salmon and spoon over the juices. Scatter with 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds and serve with brown rice or noodles, if you like.