Recipe: Baby Bok Choy Salad

I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater (I've sampled fried grasshoppers, pig's snout, octopus, pig's ear, cow's tongue, weird vegetables most people hate--like okra, etc.), but when I went over to my friend's house (we'll call her "E"), I was completely skeptical of the *raw* baby bok choy salad made with baby bok choy from her CSA. I mean, I've had lettuce raw and cabbages raw, but raw asian greens?!? That's crazy!



However, E is a fabulous cook as well as amazing hostess so I decided to give it a shot.

I can sum up that salad in two words: Life Altering.

It was delicious. So delicious I went back for seconds (and, um, thirds. I'm using "pregnancy" as an excuse here) and vowed to make it for myself soon. A whole new wonderful world of raw greens opened up to me. And, let's face it, your typical salad can get boring after awhile. Unfortunately, E is currently travelling & incommunicado so I was unable to get her exact recipe. Below is the recipe I hoppled together by a Google search of "baby bok choy salad recipe." I will amend this post with her recipe when she gets back. This recipe is good, but I believe hers involved lime juice as well, giving it a bit of a zing.

The key, IMO, to this recipe is using the more tender bok choy. The bigger bok choy has tougher stems and a more bitter leaf whereas the smaller ones have edible, crunchy stems and more milder flavor. The nuts add a great crunch. You could certainly add any other vegetables you may have on hand as well. Or fruits; orange slices would probably be nice here too.

Try this. You won't be sorry. In fact, you've probably got some baby bok choy in your CSA share or seen it at your local farmer's market. Really, there's no excuse unless you are allergic to delicious or bok choy! In addition, this would be an especially good & unusual dish to bring to a BBQ instead of the usual salad.

Ingredients (Serves 4 as a light lunch)
4 baby bok choy bunches cleaned & sliced (I sliced the white part rather thin)
1 cucumber, sliced (optional. E didn't have this in hers, but I had an extra one in the fridge)
Leftover roasted/grilled chicken or tofu (optional, but this makes it more of a meal)
Nuts (E used slivered, toasted almonds; I used peanuts b/c it's what I had on hand)

1.5 Tbsp seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
1.5 tsp sugar
1 tsp grated ginger

Directions:
1. Whisk last 6 ingredients together.
2. Pour and toss over first 4 ingredients.

Do you have any good, raw greens recipes?