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.
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.
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.
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
Yields 2 servings
Save RecipeIngredients
- 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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