- Chinese
- Vegan Mains
- Vegetarian Mains
- Stir-Fry Noodles
- Vegetable Stir-Fry
Vegetables and sauce take the spotlight, while noodles add a bit of textural and flavor contrast.
By
J. Kenji López-Alt
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/kenji-lopez-alt-9e7ff3ba54e24328a853d774a05fd4b8.jpg "Bok Choy With Chives, Black Bean Sauce, and Chow Fun Recipe (1)")
Updated January 23, 2024
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Why It Works
- Cutting back on the noodles and adding more vegetables makes for a more nutritionally balanced vegan dish.
- The noodles are great for a bit of textural and flavor contrast.
Back in 2007,Mark Bittmanwrote what I thought was one of the more brilliant columns of The Minimalist inThe New York Times. Every good Italian cook knows that a bowl of pasta is mainly about the pasta; the sauce is merely there to accent it. His simple idea?Who cares what Italian tradition says: reverse the ratios and make your dishfocus on the sauce and vegetables, using pasta as a tasty, textural accent, not the centerpiece of the recipe.
It's a really good idea for anyone—even omnivores—but as a vegan, I've found it to be a total life-saver when planning meals. Could thatpasta with braised broccoli and tomatoI made be better as braised broccoli and tomatoeswithpasta? Indeed it is.
The other day, I stir-fried some chow fun noodles in the office and served them with a bit of scallion and a black bean sauce. As I was eating, I thought to myself: Why not apply Bittman's trick to other cuisines?
Once I'd broken that psychological barrier, I found myself experimenting. A mapo tofu-inspired dish of simmered soft tofu with chiles and flowering chives should have been served daintily scooped along with a big bowl of white rice to dilute its intense flavor. Instead, I decided to tone down the flavor a bit, add some extra tofu and vegetables, and serve it with just a tiny bit of rice on the side.
Dry-fried chow fun is one of my favorite foods in the world (exhibit a) but at its core, it's essentially a huge pile of refined carbs. As a meat eater, that's fine. I've got meat as a concentrated source of protein, and perhaps a pile of steamed dark green vegetables on the side. As a vegan, Ineedto pack more fresh vegetables into my meals if I want to make sure to stay balanced.
The solution?Cut way back on the noodles and add a whole slew of vegetables.That's exactly what I did here. Instead of noodles, the base of the dish is stir-fried bok choy (cooked in a super-heated cast iron wok to get some nice, smokywok heiinto it) along with flowering chives, Chinese chives, and leeks in a savory fermented black bean and soy-based sauce. The noodles are still great—perfect for adding a bit of textural and flavor contrast—but now their ratio is more akin to the marshmallows in the Rice Krispies.
I know that I'm going to be playing around with this method a lot more in days to come, and I'd encourage anyone who cooks a carb-with-sauce-based meal to try it out. You may find it to be surprisingly delicious.
January 2012
Recipe Details
Bok Choy With Chives, Black Bean Sauce, and Chow Fun Recipe
Prep5 mins
Cook10 mins
Active15 mins
Total15 mins
Serves4 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons fermented black bean sauce (or 3 tablespoons whole fermented black beans, mashed with the back of a fork)
1/2 pound fresh chow fun noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds bok choy(about 1 medium head), cut into rough 2-inch lengths (about 4 quarts packed pieces)
1/4 pound Chinese chives or scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths
1 large leek, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 cups mung bean sprouts
Directions
Combine Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, and black beans in a small bowl and stir. Set aside. If noodles are cold, transfer to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave under high power for 1 minute.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat in a large wok until smoking heavily. Add bok choy and toss to coat in oil. Cook, stirring and tossing occasionally, until bok choy is charred in spots, bright green, and tender-crisp, about 2 minutes total. Transfer cooked bok choy to a bowl and wipe out wok with a paper towel.
Add remaining tablespoon oil to wok and heat over high heat until heavily smoking. Add chives and leeks and cook, stirring and tossing occasionally, until charred in spots, about 1 minute. Add bean sprouts, noodles, bok choy, and sauce. Cook, carefully flipping and turning until noodles and vegetables are evenly coated in sauce. Transfer to a large serving platter and serve immediately.
Special Equipment
Wok
Notes
You need a supply of fresh steamed rice noodles for this recipe. Check your local Chinatown or a good Asian grocery. Steamed rice noodles need to be used the day they are made. Do not refrigerate them or they will become brittle/stale very rapidly. If you can't find chow fun noodles, any cooked vegan Chinese noodle will work.
Read More
- The Best Vegan Mapo Tofu
- Vegan Dan Dan Noodles
| Nutrition Facts (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 285 | Calories |
| 10g | Fat |
| 35g | Carbs |
| 12g | Protein |
Show Full Nutrition Label
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| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 4 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 285 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 10g | 13% |
| Saturated Fat 1g | 5% |
| Cholesterol 6mg | 2% |
| Sodium 1379mg | 60% |
| Total Carbohydrate 35g | 13% |
| Dietary Fiber 6g | 20% |
| Total Sugars 5g | |
| Protein 12g | |
| Vitamin C 59mg | 296% |
| Calcium 219mg | 17% |
| Iron 4mg | 24% |
| Potassium 1029mg | 22% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
