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A simple dish packed with nutrition and flavor – A choy blanched with soy sauce is your go-to for a quick and easy meal. Make it with a bit of sugar, light soy sauce, minced garlic, and red pepper shreds. It is crisp, savory, and healthy!
What Is A Choy (Taiwanese Lettuce)
A choy, A菜, and A cài are among the many names of Taiwanese lettuce. It is a leafy green vegetable with crisp stalks and tender leaves. You can eat both the stalks and leaves.
When it comes to taste, its stalks are like cucumbers, while its leaves are similar to romaine or lettuce. Cooking Taiwanese lettuce is just like other vegetables. It can be blanched, stir-fried, air-fried, or simply eaten raw.
Adding this vegetable to your meals is highly beneficial as it is packed with vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamins C and B, iron, calcium, and potassium, to name a few.
Moreover, it is low in calories and helps with pain and insomnia. If you want to learn more about vegetables, you can also read my guides, Napa Cabbage Vs Bok Choy Vs Yu Choy and How Different Is Bok Choy From Other Similar Vegetables?
Where To Get A Choy (Taiwanese Lettuce)
A choy is more commonly found in Asian supermarkets or local markets that specifically sell Asian vegetables.
If your local grocery store has a large selection of Asian vegetables, you may find your luck in spotting A choy as well. Look for this vegetable in the name of Taiwanese Lettuce, A choy, or A菜.
What Does Blanching A Choy Do?
Blanching is different from boiling. In this recipe, A choy is blanched for only 30 seconds. Anything more than that will make the vegetables soggy and lose their crisp texture.
Basically, blanching is a cooking technique where vegetables are boiled for a few seconds or minutes.
To blanch A choy, you need a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of cooking oil in a pot of water. Let the water boil. Once it boils, blanch the A choy for about 30 seconds and remove.
Tips And Alternatives For This Recipe
When preparing the ingredients, there are a few tips and alternatives worth noting. Each ingredient is easily replaceable with the closest alternative. However, keep in mind this can change the overall flavor.
- A choy: Always choose the freshest vegetables. These usually have green leaves without yellow or brown spots. Moreover, the stem should be white and firm. Before cooking A choy, it should be washed and cleaned with water. Then, cut it in half to make it easier to eat and absorb the sauce.
- Sugar: Sugar can be optional for a hint of sweetness and to counter the salty flavors. You can use any type of sweetener, including white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, or coconut sugar.
- Light soy sauce: The flavors of soy sauce add saltiness, depth, and umaminess to this dish. You can swap this with dark soy sauce, but you may need to adjust the quantity to taste. Other alternatives to use are tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Minced garlic: The garlic in this recipe is minced so that the sauce will have a stronger, more pungent flavor. Moreover, the garlic bits give the sauce some texture. If you don’t have garlic cloves but still want that garlicky taste, you can use garlic powder or granules. Replace 1 clove of garlic with 1/8 tsp of garlic powder or 1/4 tsp of granulated garlic.
- Red pepper shreds: You can cut red bell pepper in shreds, sticks, diced, or rings. This adds a mild and sweet flavor with notes of peppery and citrus taste. Moreover, it contributes a bit of crunch to the sauce. As an alternative, you can also use yellow or orange bell pepper. In contrast to red peppers, yellow or orange peppers are typically less sweet and less citrusy.
- Oil: You will need a tablespoon of oil for blanching and a drizzle of hot oil for the sauce. Any cooking oil will do for this recipe, such as olive, avocado, sesame, or safflower oil. You can choose peanut, soybean, or vegetable oil if you want a neutral taste. Since you need hot oil to pour over the minced garlic and red pepper shreds, you need the oil to become hot enough to sizzle. Any oil can come to a boil, but I recommend oils with a higher smoke point, such as avocado oil, peanut, canola, or corn oil. The oil’s smoke point is when it no longer shimmers and starts smoking.
Prepare These Ingredients And Kitchen Items
You won’t believe how easy it is to start making this recipe. All ingredients can be found in supermarkets and grocery stores. There’s a good chance you already have them in your kitchen!
So, you just need to work on finding A choy in the stores. The only kitchen items you will need are a pot for blanching, a knife and chopping board for chopping, and a heat-resistant bowl to withstand the hot oil for the sauce. Here’s what you need to prepare:
Kitchen Equipment
- Pot for blanching
- Spoon or chopsticks for stirring
- Spatula strainer
- Heat-resistant bowl for mixing the sauce
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil for blanching
- Water for balancing
- 20g of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil for the sauce
- 10g of red pepper shreds
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 30g of light soy sauce
How To Cook A Choy Blanched With Light Soy Sauce
The recipe steps are super easy! Start with blanching, preparing the sauce, and pouring it all over the blanched A choy. Watch the recipe steps on Instagram or TikTok and don’t forget to write a comment to share your thoughts and ideas.
Wash and halve the A Choy.
Fill a cooking pot with water and add salt and cooking oil.
Once it starts boiling, add the A Choy and blanch for 30 seconds. Do not blanch for more than 30 seconds to avoid a soggy and wilted texture!
Remove the blanched A choy and allow it to drain, removing excess water. Then, transfer it to a serving plate.
In a heat-resistant bowl, combine the minced garlic and red pepper shreds.
Drizzle hot oil over the mixture. It should sizzle and cook the ingredients a bit.
Next, add sugar and light soy sauce. Adjust to taste.
Stir well and pour it all over the A choy. Enjoy this with any main dish!
If you love how easy it is to blanch, you will also love my Delicious Blanched Bok Choy With Vegetable Sauce recipe.
A Choy Blanched With Garlic Sauce (Taiwanese Lettuce)
Equipment
- Pot for blanching
- Spoon or chopsticks for stirring
- Spatula strainer
- Heat-resistant bowl for mixing the sauce
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil for blanching
- Water for balancing
- 20 g of minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil for the sauce
- 10 g of red pepper shreds
- ½ teaspoon of sugar
- 30 g of light soy sauce
Instructions
- Wash and halve the A Choy.
- Fill a cooking pot with water and add salt and cooking oil.
- Once it starts boiling, add the A Choy and blanch for 30 seconds. Do not blanch for more than 30 seconds to avoid a soggy and wilted texture!
- Remove the blanched A choy and allow it to drain, removing excess water. Then, transfer it to a serving plate.
- In a heat-resistant bowl, combine the minced garlic and red pepper shreds.
- Drizzle hot oil over the mixture. It should sizzle and cook the ingredients a bit.
- Next, add sugar and light soy sauce. Adjust to taste.
- Stir well and pour it all over the A choy. Enjoy this with any main dish!
how much a choy is needed for this recipe?
Hi Jo, about 400g, no need to be too precise for this recipe.
This is a brand new vegetable to me–I’ve never seen it served in any restaurants–and an excellent recipe!
Hi Jo,
Thanks. A choy, also known as you mai cai, is very common in China. In fact, you can use this method to prepare other common vegetables such as bok choy and yu choy.