This easy A Choy (also called AA choy or you mai cai) with Garlic and Oyster Sauce is another vegetable recipe you can add to your regular rotation.
The AA choy cooks up quickly, and the combination of garlic and oyster sauce never fails. Even your picky eaters will be helping themselves to more veggies!
A Chinese Vegetable You May Not Have Heard Of
AA choy, sometimes referred to as “A choy” is known as yóumài cài (油麦菜) in Chinese or simply “A-A cài.”
For the longest time, I mistakenly thought they were the leafy tops of celtuce, another vegetable we love. Turns out this is not the case, and it stands on its own as a very unique kind of lettuce. But just like lettuce, you can eat it raw or cooked.
Don’t Throw Away the Stems!
The stem of AA choy is just like celtuce stems.
Usually, we just peel the outer layer off with a paring knife or peeler, slice them up, and eat them as a crunchy snack. Or you can slice it thinly for stir-frying along with the rest of the leaves.
A Few Tips For Success:
- This dish only takes about 2 minutes, so have everything ready before you start cooking. If you’re not ready, you risk overcooking the vegetables, which happens in an instant! A choy is extremely delicate.
- Plate the vegetables while they’re still crunchy. Most people forget that vegetables (and most foods for that matter) will continue to cook in residual heat before you sit down to eat. The AA choy is so tender that any residual cooking time does make a difference, remove them from the heat quickly once the leaves start to wilt.
- This dish is best enjoyed immediately upon serving. If you’re making a few dishes, cook this one last!
- These vegetables contain a lot of water. To make sure the dish turns out nice and flavorful, spin them in a salad spinner to rid them of as much excess water as possible after washing. You will add water to the sauce, but this allows you to control the amount.
- If you don’t have oyster sauce or can’t eat it due to dietary restrictions, vegetarian oyster sauce works well, too. If you’re not familiar with oyster sauce, check out our video!
- If you like, you can add 1½ teaspoons of cornstarch to the sauce to make a glossy restaurant-style vegetable. Kaitlin likes to use this trick often (check out her bok-choy stir fry recipe!)
- Make sure you don’t burn your garlic. This dish happens quickly, and while you want the wok to be smoking to achieve wok hei, you don’t want your garlic to burn as soon as you add it into the wok. Read more of our tips on cooking with garlic here.
That’s it. On to the recipe!
Recipe Instructions
Remove the leaves from the center stem. Take the time to soak and wash them a few times. (I wash my vegetables at least three times to get rid of sand and any residue.) Shake off the excess water.
For the center stem, peel the skin and eat them as is (tossed with a little salt and sesame oil to make a nice salad), or slice them thinly and cook them along with the rest of the dish. Cut the long leaves into 3-inch (8cm) sections. Spin the leaves in a salad spinner until they’re nice and dry.
In a small bowl, mix the water, oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce), salt, white pepper, and sesame oil. Set aside.
Heat the wok over medium heat until it’s just starting to smoke. Add the oil and garlic. Let it cook for a few seconds, then immediately turn up the heat to high, and add the AA choy.
Stir the vegetables a few times. When the vegetables are about 50% wilted, add the prepared sauce.
Mix everything well, and once the leaves have just started to wilt, turn off the heat.
Serve immediately!
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Recipe
A Choy with Garlic and Oyster Sauce (炒油麦菜)
Ingredients
- 1 pound AA choy 油麦菜, yóumài cài
- 3 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil (such as vegetable, peanut, or avocado oil)
- 4-5 cloves garlic (minced; about 2 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Remove the leaves from the center stem. Take the time to soak and wash them a few times. Shake off the excess water.
- For the center stem, peel the skin and eat them as is (tossed with a little salt and sesame oil to make a nice salad), or slice them thinly and cook them along with the rest of the dish. Cut the long leaves into 3-inch (8cm) sections. Spin the leaves in a salad spinner until they’re nice and dry.
- In a small bowl, mix the water, oyster sauce (or vegetarian oyster sauce), salt, white pepper, and sesame oil. Set aside.
- Heat the wok over medium heat until it’s just starting to smoke. Add the oil and garlic. Let it cook for a few seconds, then immediately turn up the heat to high, and add the AA choy.
- Stir the vegetables a few times. When the vegetables are about 50% wilted, add the prepared sauce. Mix everything well, and once the leaves have just started to wilt, turn off the heat. Serve immediately.
