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Crunchy and refreshing Chinese Mustard Green Recipe, stir-fried in a light ginger and garlic sauce. Mustard greens are very nutritious, low carb, and delicious. They make a great side dish and taste great chilled or warm. Let me show you how to make it with my simple step-by-step recipe!
What are Chinese Mustard Greens?
Chinese mustard greens, also known as gai choy in cantonese or 芥菜 [jiè cài] in Mandarin, is a type of mustard plant. It’s often served as a side dish or appetizer. They are full of nutrition and low in carb. You can braise, saute, blanch, or pickle them.
Because the mustard greens have a peppery and bitter mustard flavor, quite often they are blanched in hot boiling water first to remove some of the bitter taste.
How To Select The Freshest Mustard Leafy Greens
Chinese mustard greens are often found in Asian grocery stores. Most often, the leafy parts are removed, leaving only the stem bulbs. The mustard leaves are edible but most often they are sold without the leaves. This might be because people prefer the crunchy texture of the big stems.
Select firm texture mustard greens with bright and vibrant green color.
When storing at home, place the greens in a sealed bag or container and store for up to three days. The best way to clean them is to dice them into roughly 1-inch sections first then thoroughly rinse them in running water.
Mustard Greens Nutrition
Chinese mustard greens are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and K. They are high in antioxidant, help lower cholesterol, detox liver and blood, high in fiber, and packed with phytonutrients. You can read more from this article.
Chinese mustard greens substitute
Because Chinese mustard greens and curled-leaf mustard leaves both belong to the same plant family – Brassica juncea. They have similar flavor and taste. If you can’t find Chinese mustard greens, I suggest using curled-leaf mustard leaves as a substitute.
More Chinese Green Vegetables:
- Chinese broccoli stir-fry with garlic sauce (Gai Lan)
- Snow pea leaves stir-fry
- Chinese garlic green beans
- Stir fried choy sum
So my friends! Mustard greens are so great for us! It is a required taste because of its peppery and bitter flavor , though we can mitigate it by blanching the greens first. I often think bitter flavor foods are grown-up foods and since they are so healthy and packed with tons of vitamins, I recommend that you give this recipe a try. You might come to learn that not only you love this mustard green recipe but also your kids!
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Chinese Mustard Green Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs Chinese mustard greens dice to 1-inch sections (see notes)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- ½ tbsp ginger julienned
- 2-3 whole Chinese dry red chilies (see notes)
- ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. In the meantime, dice Chinese mustard greens to roughly about 1-inch sections. Rinse well. If the mustard green comes with leafy parts, separate the stems and the leaves. Prepare garlic and ginger. Set aside ready to use.
- Hot water blanch the stems with a pinch of salt for about 30 seconds. If the mustard greens come with leaves, blanch for 10 seconds. Plunge them in cold water to stop cooking. Set aside and drain well.
- In a well-heated large saute pan (or wok), add 1.5 tbsp cooking oil, saute garlic, ginger, and chilies with a pinch of salt over medium-heat for 20 seconds.
- Add blanched Chinese mustard greens and the remaining ½ tbsp cooking oil. Quickly toss and saute for 30 seconds. Season with salt to taste. The texture of the greens should be crunchy and in vibrant green color.
- Off heat, drizzle with sesame oil, if using. Serve warm or cold.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I love that you use just a few ingredients to give this so much flavor. Delicious!
I can’t wait to make this for my family! We love mustard greens – I’m excited about the delicious ginger, garlic and chili flavors!
Thank you!
I’ve been trying to work more leafy greens in my diet — this was an easy way to do so and with exciting flavor. thanks!
That’s wonderful!
I first had this vegetable in my local Ding Tai Fung restaurant and fell in love with it. The vegetable is super crunchy and the light ginger sauce is amazing! I’m so happy to find this recipe on your blog. It’s a really good side dish that tastes even better the day after!
Thank you so much! Yes this dish is inspired by Ding Tai Fung, too! 😀
I must look for these specific greens in my community. This is exactly how I prepare dandelion greens and other bitter greens.. Herbalists are always busy promoting how important it is to NOT try to get rid of the bitter taste as it is SO good for us.. Thanks for the reminder that there ARE other greens for me to try!!
Thanks, Carol!
I found them the other day at H-mart and decided to give it a try. OMG it’s so crunchy delicious and that ginger seasoning is a must! I am also very happy to learn how to make this veggie. It’s very nutritious. Now I’ll be making it more often! For the record, I didn’t have the chinese dry chilies so I didn’t add them and it’s still very very good!
So happy to hear! Love mustard green, too! Crunchy delicious!
Yummy! I am imagining how amazing this must smell while cooking these delicious ingredients!
Yummy! This has ALL of the amazing ingredients. I want to try this healthy recipe!
Oh, this looks delish. I need to find Chinese mustard green or the curled ones. Wish me luck.
Thank you for sharing this Chinese vegetables. I often pass by Chinese grocery stores on my way to work but feel intimidated and am not sure what to do with all the vegetables I see in the market. I would love to try them . Now I can. Mustard greens are so nutritious. Will be referring to this recipe over and over!
Thanks, Tammy. I love mustard greens, too!