Japanese-style bok choy salad

Bok choy is one of the easiest Asian greens to grow. Ours often all spring up at once, though, and we are left to madly find ways of cooking and devouring its lush and buttery leaves. One of our favourite ways to cook it is hot and fast, with a nutty Japanese twist. This recipe is the ideal side dish to accompany a warming winter meal of soba noodles or brown rice.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Use

½ cup (125 ml/4 fl oz) mirin (rice wine)

1 heaped tablespoon white miso paste

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Juice of ½ lime

2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided in half

1 garlic clove, sliced on a mandoline

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2½ tablespoons sesame oil

4 bok choy bulbs, sliced in half lengthways

⅓ cup (50 g/1¾ oz) roasted cashews, finely chopped

1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

Chilli flakes, to taste

Do

1	In a small bowl, mix the mirin, miso paste, rice vinegar and lime juice together until the miso has completely dispersed.
2	In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds, then add the miso mixture and cook for about 1 minute; the mixture should thicken up slightly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the sesame oil.
3	In a large frying pan, heat 1 tablespoon of peanut oil over high heat. Add the bok choy and cook for about 5 minutes or until the outer edges of the stalks start to brown and crisp up.
4	Remove the frying pan from the heat. Place the bok choy onto serving plates and drizzle the miso mixture over the top. Sprinkle with cashews, sesame seeds and chilli flakes. Serve immediately, while the bok choy is still hot and crispy.

By the way, if you want to get a little adventurous in the garden, you could try your hand at growing some Chinese broccoli (gai lan) to use in this recipe.