This is a wonderful light, slightly salty, savory side dish that is delicious served over rice. I think it would go beautifully with fish. Honestly it could also stand alone as a meal.
The bok choy should be al dente- a little crisp! The garlic is cooked over low heat and the steam released from the bok choy helps to keep it from getting too toasted. Not that crispy garlic is a bad thing, but in this recipe I like the garlic to add a gentle, soft flavor.
Ingredients:
Bok choy (2-3 bulbs)
Garlic (4 large cloves)
Sesame oil
Light cooking oil
Oyster sauce
Pork sausage (3-4 links the size of your index finger)
Black pepper
Method:
First, clean and trim your bok choy. Simply chop off the bottom of the bulb and discard, from here the leaves should easily separate. Wash your bok choy and set aside. At this point you can also chop off any very large bottom pieces, you’ll add these first before the leafier pieces, just so things cook evenly.
Slice the sausage links into very small bits, about the size of a hazelnut.
Roughly mince your garlic. Now get a large wok or pan out and pour a gentle glug of light tasteless cooking oil, like sunflower seed oil or avocado oil. Here I don’t like to use olive oil because it has too much flavor and will overwhelm the sauce. Add your garlic to the cold oil and then light the stove. This way, the garlic will slowly cook, not crisp, and will infuse wonderful garlic flavor into the oil as it heats. In a minute or two, your garlic should be just slightly shimmying in the oil.
Now add your sausage. Cook for about another minute, stirring every now and then to make sure nothing is burning or getting too hot. You can also add those large pieces of bok choy if you have them. If you are using baby bok choy you probably won’t have large pieces to cut off. After another minute, add a few grinds of fresh black pepper and then the rest of the bok choy. Now, add a few tablespoons of oyster sauce and a heavy drizzle of sesame seed oil. Toss to get everything combined and then cover with a lid to create some steam. Listen to your vegetables and oil, they should be just slightly sizzling so you might need to increase your heat to medium if it’s not hot enough. From here, the bok choy should be ready in just a few minutes. You are aiming for tender crisp, not crunchy or overcooked and tough.
Serve with rice! The sauce is delicious, just needs a vessel to soak it up a bit.