• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
✮ The Food Dictator ✮

The Hirshon Dim Sum Chinese Broccoli – 芥蘭

January 9, 2017 by The Generalissimo 2 Comments

1178
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditWhatsappYummly
Light Dark Dark Light
()
The Hirshon Dim Sum Chinese Broccoli - 芥蘭
Gai Lan Image Used Under Creative Commons License From steamykitchen.com

Citizens, your beloved leader – I, the indefatigable TFD – am a huge fan of dim sum, aka “little packages that tug at the heart” (that is actually the translation of dim sum in Chinese!). I’ve been a regular at my local Dim Sum eatery for the last 18 years now, and in recognition of my status am never forced to wait for a table. 🙂

While I typically go for the steamed dim sum, Gai lan (Chinese broccoli) is the one vegetable that I never pass up! At dim sum houses, it is always served boiled or steamed with an oyster sauce dressing that I find totally irresistible.

Gai lan is a leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems with flower heads, similar to but much smaller than broccoli. Broccoli and gai lan belong to the same species – its flavor is very similar to that of broccoli, but slightly more bitter. It is also noticeably stronger. FYI, Broccolini is actually a hybrid between broccoli and gai lan, produced by the Mann Packing Company, Inc.

When selecting gai lan, I urge you to follow the directions found on the fantastic blog of steamykitchen.com:

It’s easy to pick out the best Gai Lan, or to see if it is fresh and tender. Select a bunch, look at the ends of the stalk. If they are dry, crusted and shriveled. Don’t buy. The middle of the stalk should ideally be one color – a creamy, translucent color. If you see a solid white circle in the middle of the stalk, it may mean the Gai Lan is a little old. It still could be good – look at the leaves and the buds for more clues to how fresh it is. Why is this so important? You briefly steam the Gai Lan so that it is tender crisp, so if the vegetable is old, you’ll really taste the bitterness.

Most Gai Lan have white flowers, though there are varieties that include both white and yellow flowers (probably a cross between gai lan and Chinese greens called yu choy) The flower buds should be tight and compact – there should be buds not open flowers. Lots and lots of open flowers means the stalk is older and past its prime for eating and it will be more bitter and chewy.

My recipe is quite traditional and quite delicious, Citizens – try it without further delay!

Battle on – The Generalissimo

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon

The Hirshon Dim Sum Chinese Broccoli – 芥蘭


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Total Time: 0 hours
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • For the gai lan:
  • 1lb gai lan (chinese broccoli)
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 garlic clove, sliced
  • 1 inch ginger (1 inch piece, peeled)
  • For the sauce:
  • 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp chicken stock
  • 3 tbsp oyster sauce
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil (or canola or peanut)
  • 1/2 tsp sugar

Instructions

  1. Gai Lan: Rinse gai lan and trim the end of the stems. Bring eight cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan or stock pot.
  2. Stir in salt, baking soda, garlic and ginger. Add gai lan. Cover and simmer about 4 minutes, until the gai lan turns bright green and is tender-crisp. Drain.
  3. In a large wok or pan (large enough to hold all stalks), heat the cooking oil over medium heat. When the oil is just starting to get hot (the garlic should sizzle upon contact) add the whole garlic cloves and let them fry until golden brown on all sides.
  4. Be careful not to burn the garlic, you just want to toast them – if the garlic starts turning dark brown, turn the heat to low. Toasting the garlic should take about 2 minutes.
  5. Turn the heat to high and add the ginger, fry for 30 seconds. Add the gai lan stalks and use your spatula to scoop up the oil so that every stalk has been bathed with the ginger/garlic-infused oil for 30 seconds.
  6. Remove the gai lan to a plate, leaving any remaining stock mixture in the wok. Stack the Chinese broccoli together and cut into 4″/10cm lengths and stack on top of each other.
  7. To the wok, add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, shaoxing, sugar, stock/cornstarch mixture and sesame oil and thicken over high heat for 1 minute. Pour the sauce mixture over the gai lan and serve.
  • Prep Time: 0 hours
  • Cook Time: 0 hours

Nutrition

  • Calories: 139.16 kcal
  • Sugar: 2.72 g
  • Sodium: 806.52 mg
  • Fat: 8.18 g
  • Saturated Fat: 0.63 g
  • Trans Fat: 0.05 g
  • Carbohydrates: 13.74 g
  • Fiber: 3.25 g
  • Protein: 4.29 g
  • Cholesterol: 0.22 mg

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @thefooddictator on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook and hashtag it #TFD

How useful was this post, Citizen?

Click to rate My Recipe, Citizen - 5 hearts are ALWAYS appreciated!

Average rating / 5. Vote count:

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.

As you found this post useful...

Follow us on social media, Citizen!

We are sorry that this post was not useful for you!

Let us improve this post!

Tell us how we can improve this post?

Related posts:

The Hirshon East Indian 40 Ingredient ‘Bottle Masala’ - शीशा मसाला
The Hirshon British Steak and Kidney Pie
Goan Pork Vindaloo - Vin d'Alhos
The Hirshon Healing Talbina Smoothie - التلبينة
The Hirshon Swedish Gooey Chocolate Cake - Kladdkaka
The Hirshon Hybrid Deviled Ham Spread
The Hirshon Polish Garlic Rye Bread With Horseradish Leaves - Chleb na Liściu Chrzanu
Jeffrey Steingarten's 8 Steps to Hamburger Perfection

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: Chinese, Condiments, Vegetables

About The Generalissimo

The myth of the Generalissimo is far more interesting than the reality.

Previous Post: « The Hirshon French Vadouvan Curry Powder
Next Post: The Hirshon Japanese Miso-Marinated Black Cod – 西京焼き »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rhoda

    June 1, 2022 at 2:33 PM

    I made this but substituted finely sliced asparagus for the gai lan. Excellent recipe and adaptable. Thank you for a recipe that I will use again and again.

    Reply
    • The Generalissimo

      June 2, 2022 at 11:44 AM

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Primary Sidebar

➤ Citizens – Please Support TFD Nation!

Donate to Help TFD!

⇔ Search, And Ye Shall Assuredly Find!

✮ Citizens ✮

TFD currently has a total of 1,363 posts and 1,159,134 words written since December of 2014! Add your voice to My 50,000+ dedicated readers, comment on My recipes and thus become an active member of TFD Nation! Looking for a particular recipe? Search for it in the box above or via the category tags below - there are THOUSANDS of the finest in world and historic recipes here!

❧ TREMBLE Before Our Categoric Zeal!

Appetizers (145)Beef (143)Beverages (24)Bread (111)Cheese (64)Chicken (132)Chinese (121)Chocolate (16)Condiments (262)Dessert (166)Drinks (23)Duck (20)Egg (47)Fish (56)French (56)Game (30)Georgian (34)Indian (60)Italian (58)Jewish (84)Lamb (73)Manifestos (1)Pasta (90)Pork (147)Salad (40)Sandwich (42)Seafood (84)Shrimp (53)Soup (109)Spices (12)Tofu (7)Turkey (15)Veal (18)Vegetables (108)

✺ Click to Follow Us Across Social Media!

Facebook   

    instagram

☥ TFD SPEAKS!!!

https://www.thefooddictator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TFD-Avatar-Cold-Open-FINAL.mp4

 Enjoy TFD’s Mellifluous Podcasts, Citizen!

Listen on Apple Podcasts

© 2023 · The Food Dictator is abjectly served by WORDPRESS

✮ The Food Dictator ✮
Manage Cookie Consent
Citizens!

Be advised that as an enlightened Dictatorship here at TFD, we are indeed on the side of right when it comes to protecting the privacy of TFD Nation!

We do use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access device information, solely to improve your browsing experience and to show personalized ads.

Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions - trust us, we really ARE on your side!

YOUR LOYALTY IS NOTED! 🎖️
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
1178
SHARES
FacebookTwitterPinterestRedditMailYummly