Charred Choy

Feeling that the time had come for another culinary experiment, I decided to deviate from the tried and true method of cooking my bok choy in a wok.

 

There is that special, slightly singed, flavor in Chinese food at times and I wanted to try to replicate it. But, without a 300,000 BTU stove what to do? Eying the grill, I thought, why not?  While the rice was cooking away inside, I watched over the grill. A few minutes later the bok choy had taken on a lovely char.

 

Carrying it back into my kitchen, I chopped the green into chunky bits, added oil to my biggest frying pan, followed by a handful of garlic and ginger and the bok choy.

While the vegetable wilted nestled over its little layer of garlic and ginger I drained and cubed a tray of soft tofu.

 

And although oyster sauce would have been my first choice, mine was long gone.  A quick check in the pantry revealed Hoisin and black bean sauce, a few tablespoons of which worked fine to add a bit of salty-sweetness.

 

From start to finish it took roughly 20 minutes to make dinner tonight, leaving plenty of time to enjoy the meal outside. As the sun began to dip I inhaled the deep earthy smells of Spring...I do so love the Spring.