Dried bok choy / white cabbage
Sun-dried white cabbage (bok choy), sold in twisted dry bundles that must be soaked half an hour or more and rubbed clean of grit before use. Rehydrated and simmered long, it gives autumn soups a deep, savoury-sweet, faintly caramelised vegetable note that fresh cabbage cannot match.
TCM properties
Nature · cooling Flavour · sweet Meridians · lung、stomach、large intestine
Traditional food therapy
In Cantonese food therapy dried bok choy is used to moisten the lungs and clear dryness and internal heat, the traditional backbone of autumn dry-season soups.
Cautions: read first
- If you run cold and deficient, add ginger and red dates
- Roughly made batches can carry grit, dust and pesticide residue, so soak and wash them thoroughly
Preparation
Soak until soft for at least 30 minutes, rub and rinse repeatedly to get the grit out, then cut into lengths.
Origin
Guangdong (the Hong Kong tradition of sun-drying bok choy). Packaged dried-vegetable lines at Australian Asian grocers, typically produced in China or Hong Kong
Availability in Australia
Easy to find
