After much blog chatter about my Bok Choi it was first harvest this week.  It was a low key affair as I grabbed two plants from the potager in a hurry on my way back from putting the chickens to bed.  I do the messy clean up of the plants in the utility room, close to back door where the composting bin is, making it ideal to peel off the roots, dirt and other unusable parts of the plants before I take to the kitchen for the grand finale.

It’s still a bit of a thrill that I’m using plants for dinner I actually grew.  Admittedly not from seed but that’s the challenge for next year.  For this year I’ve nurtured little baby plants and brought them to the point of use.  It’s a feeling you can’t beat.

I had never eaten Bok Choi before I came to New Zealand.  It was watching Gary Rhodes on TV using this plant that had a built in spoon that I was inspired to try it out.  You can see from these plants how spoon like they are.

I enjoyed trimming off the ends and giving everything a good wash.  I didn’t want to find any unwanted protein amongst my greens.

So how do you make the most of Bok Choi?  It’ goes in a stir fry of course.  I grabbed up some rice wine, sesame oil, pork fillet, rice and soy sauce to whip up the perfect wok special.  A quick marinade of the pork in the rice wine, oil and soy brings a sharp flavour to the pork.

When you are back from the commuter run all it takes then is to rustle up some rice and then crack on with a quick stir fry.  I used to use my wok almost every day when I was a single person living on my own.  It now only comes out once in a while but after this adventure I’m keen to stir fry a bit more often.

This was one of the best stir fries I’ve done.  The marinade was just right, the bok choi totally crispy and I manage to juggle all the cooking so that I plated up the rice and stir fry at the same time.

This was not just a tasty dinner but it was speedy too.    Perfect for the mid week when you’ve got other things on your mind.  I’ve got a lot on my mind right now so it all worked out well.  I’m also keener than ever to grown bok choi and maybe branch out to other asian greens.  I’ve been watching Rick Stein’s new series about south Asia and it’s been an inspiration to Asian Food.  I’m learning about the sweet and sour combinations and how a balanced and health meal can be created from simple ingredients.

Whilst this celebration of our home grown Bok Choi was pretty low key it has made me think more about quick and easy stir fry recipes.  I can see there will be more experimentation to come.