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Lemon Tahini Bok Choy

May 5, 2014 by Lisa Le 22 Comments

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Middle-Eastern flavours meet one of my favourite asian greens to make a creamy lemon tahini bok choy dish

Middle-Eastern flavours meet one of my favourite asian greens to make a creamy lemon tahini bok choy dish

There’s something I love about being busy. Having the day sweep by in a blur as I buzz from place to place doing things I need to do is satisfyingly exhausting. My eyes close and I fall to a dreamless sleep before I have to wake up and do it all over again. I love working with people and using my extroverted side to be loud and obnoxious in an appropriate setting. Sing-yelling how great something is typically isn’t socially acceptable in my life, but with some of the work I do, it’s totally normal. If anything, it gets more people jazzed about whatever it is I’m promoting.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I work in promotions (on top of my other two part-time jobs) for a couple marketing companies. If you’ve been following my instagram or twitter, you may have seen me working randomly in branded uniform. I’ve been doing experiential marketing for about 7 months now, and I thought it would get old or annoying because I know other people who do the same work who are over the whole excitement of it, but I actually really like it.

I’m naturally a very excitable person, and with exp. marketing, I get paid to let my extroverted side of me dominate as I belt out things that rhyme with BB cream or shout at people to come get some free stuff.

Middle-Eastern flavours meet one of my favourite asian greens to make a creamy lemon tahini bok choy dish

As much as I like doing that work, I love coming back home to do this. Take pictures of beautiful food and show it to you. I instagrammed a halved bok choy because I was randomly awestruck with the simple beauty of nature. The beautiful green leaves, the shadows they create in the light, and the bundle of nutrient-rich crunch is just too phenomenal. I get far too excited over a vegetable.

Maybe it’s just me that feels this way, but I’m usually able to tell what my body needs based on what I crave. Or vice versa. When I start getting headaches, I need to drink more water. When I feel sluggish, I realize I should probably take my B12 supplement. When my elbows and forearms start to ache, I used to eat yogurt or drink milk. But now I don’t seek dairy when I need some calcium, I go for these badboys.

Middle-Eastern flavours meet one of my favourite asian greens to make a creamy lemon tahini bok choy dish

I used to hate bok choy. If you overcook it, it gets kind of stringy and hard to chew because all the stringy bits of the stem get stuck in between your teeth and it’s probably one of the worst feelings over. I almost always have floss somewhere around because if I don’t, I spend about 20 minutes looking like a moron trying to fish whatever it is out with my tongue.

But if you keep the stems fairly crunchy yet still soft enough for the upper leaves to wilt to melt in your mouth, bok choy becomes a vegetable of texturized wonder. Soft, smooth, crunchy, and chewy. HOW DO YOU EVEN?!

I originally wanted to do a miso ginger sauce, but it was pouring rain outside and I would have had to venture out to buy some ginger, I decided to opt for a bright and creamy dressing instead: lemon and tahini were my prime choice. Add some water, a little salt, chili flakes, and some toasted sesame oil for extra umami flavour, and you’ve got yourself a creamy yet crunchy delicious side dish (or main dish if you’re lazy like me and only want to cook one dish). Serve with soba nooodles, rice, on its own…

It’s up to you.

Middle-Eastern flavours meet one of my favourite asian greens to make a creamy lemon tahini bok choy dish

Hope you’re staying your favourite kind of busy (be it not busy or extremely busy)!

Inspired by use real butter’s miso ginger bok choy

Print Recipe
4 from 1 vote

Creamy Lemon Tahini Bok Choy

Servings: 2 servings
Author: Lisa Le

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil + 1 tsp for the sauce
  • 2 tbsp tahini paste
  • 1 lemon juiced (about 3 tbsp)
  • 1/4 tsp chili flakes
  • 3 tbsp + 2 tbsp water for sauce
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 8 stalks bok choy

Instructions

  • To make the sauce, whisk together 1 tsp sesame oil, tahini paste, lemon juice, chili flakes, 2 tbsp water, salt and minced garlic until combined. Set aside.
  • Wash bok choy thoroughly and drain well. Preheat a large pan over medium heat while you cut the stalks in half through the stem. To sauté the bok choy, arrange on skillet and sprinkle the other 1 tsp of sesame oil and 3 tbsp water over the greens. Sauté until the leaves have wilted and the stems are cooked but still a little crunchy (about 3-5 min)
  • Pour lemon tahini sauce over bok choy and stir to coat (about 1 minute). Turn off the heat and transfer to a plate. Serve immediately with some rice or noodles!

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Filed Under: Appetizers & Sides, Dinner, Gluten-Free, Lunch, Vegan recipes Tagged With: appetizer, bok, choy, creamy, entree, lemon, side dish, tahini, vegan

About Lisa Le

Lisa is the thirty-something, nerdy, procrastinating, feminist blogger and photographer behind The Viet Vegan. She loves spicy foods, noodles, and food in bowls.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Meredith @ Unexpectedly Magnificent says

    May 5, 2014 at 1:13 PM

    I’m still working on liking bok choy. There’s something about the taste and consistency that don’t appeal to me. Still, this looks like a delicious way to serve it! :)

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 5, 2014 at 4:32 PM

      I totally know what you mean. It all comes down to how you prepare it, crunchy and still a little bitter (adding the lemon helps counter the bitterness a bit) or soft and sweet.

      Reply
    • Nancy Drohomyrecky says

      April 3, 2024 at 7:07 PM

      4 stars
      Love Bok Choy! Itss easy to prepare… dont worry about, just cook till greens wilt and perfect

      Reply
  2. Katie @ Produce on Parade says

    May 5, 2014 at 1:15 PM

    These are gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 5, 2014 at 4:32 PM

      Thanks Katie =)

      Reply
  3. Annie says

    May 10, 2014 at 11:25 PM

    I made this yesterday, and let me tell you…it was delicious! I’ve been obsessed with Shanghai bok choy for weeks now, and with tahini for, well, forever. This is the perfect marriage of the two! I’m going back to Kensington market for more bok choy tomorrow so I can eat it all week long.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 11, 2014 at 4:36 PM

      Love Kensington market, so many cheap veggies!! Thanks for leaving the comment to let me know how it turned out =)

      Reply
  4. Millie says

    May 11, 2014 at 8:50 AM

    Yum! These look so so delicious! Will try them out soon!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 11, 2014 at 4:34 PM

      Thanks Millie! Hope you come back and let the other readers know it works out for you =)

      Reply
  5. anoushe says

    May 12, 2014 at 11:24 AM

    Such a great idea!! I personally am not a fan of the bok choy stem. I’ve developed this little theory that generally just stem and just leaf lovers come together in harmony. It’s liike the HIMYM olive theory, those who like them and those who don’t find one another. So far (with all my exboyfriends, and with my parents) the theory has held true :)

    I love the idea of adding tahini! Can’t wait to try it :D

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      May 12, 2014 at 12:45 PM

      Hahahha love HIMYM. Chris and I both love olives, so we defy the olive theory. But he likes red-flavoured things, and I like the citrusy green things. It comes in handy with Skittles haha. Dare I dub, the Skittle theory?

      If you don’t like the stem, you can always try baby bok choy instead of the fully green bok choy? The stem is a little less stringy and when cooked, more buttery (or crunchy if you don’t cook it all the way).

      Reply
  6. Katherine says

    May 23, 2014 at 8:24 AM

    I just got a bunch of bok choy in my organic food bin this week, so I think I’ll be whipping some up tonight! I made a yummy lemon tahini dressing last night, with some chopped garlic greens (also from the bin). I didn’t even think of putting the dressing on the bok choy, until I saw this! Thank you!

    Reply
  7. Lisa Le says

    February 9, 2015 at 12:19 AM

    Thanks! I’m craving bok choy again, I should make it again! haha

    Reply
  8. Taylor says

    June 8, 2015 at 6:46 PM

    On a whim I picked up some bok choy at my farmers market the other day, having no idea how to cook it. Thank you for this easy and simple recipe, it was amazing!

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      June 9, 2015 at 10:53 AM

      Yay! So glad you liked it. Bok choy does all the work. I just add a little extra flavour ^_^

      Reply
  9. VeganGal says

    July 13, 2015 at 7:32 PM

    I tried this tonight and I thought it was a nice, savory dish. I think it would be great as a side dish since the flavors would compliment many different dishes. The tahini is really pronounced but if you like tahini (like I do) you’ll enjoy that.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      July 14, 2015 at 4:49 PM

      Thanks for coming back to comment =) I’m a huge fan of tahini… If you try my other recipes you’ll see that is kinda a trend XD

      Reply
  10. Vanessa says

    June 23, 2016 at 2:33 AM

    i had a strange craving for the juiciness of Bok Choy, i made this, thank you for the easy recipe. Slight alterations: i used powdered garlic instead of fresh, and then sprinkled sesame seeds on top of the final dish. Also mixed the sauce into soba noodles. Such an easy dish to make! And if you make extra sauce you can keep for another day.

    Reply
  11. Art Wong says

    November 6, 2016 at 2:35 PM

    A unique combination and twist on a middle eastern classic. I am a hummus fan and had lots of shanghai bok choi left over from a party so had to try this. Bravo on coming upon this idea.

    Some nice additions were match stick ginger to the hot oil and threw in some firm cubed tofu near the end. I really liked the creamy slightly sour sauce with tofu and bok choi. It made for a more substantial meal with rice.

    Reply
    • Lisa Le says

      November 7, 2016 at 12:59 AM

      Oooh ginger and tofu sounds really nice with this :) Thanks for trying it and leaving your feedback!

      Reply
  12. Nancy Burford says

    October 22, 2017 at 7:55 PM

    This has made it into our regular rotation. We LOVE this recipe. I add water chestnuts and baked tofu and serve it over brown rice. No need for the oil, I just lightly steam the bok choy. It is a complete delicious meal. Thank you so much for the recipe.

    Reply
  13. Jan says

    January 13, 2023 at 7:30 PM

    I’m not a bok choy fan but this recipe made it taste fantastic! Thank you!

    Reply

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