As much as I love to cook, I also really enjoy watching other cooks go through their creative process. Recently I was at a conference at the Commonweal Retreat Center, where I was able to observe one of my favorite cooks, Claire Heart. She brought out this dish, and the first thing I noticed was that it had bok choy. Now that’s a great vegetable, but it tends to be bitter. She completely solved that problem by pairing it with yams to create a dish that tasted like a vegetarian Chinese Thanksgiving. It was a completely unique and delicious pairing. The colors blew me away as well. I went home and decided to play around with her concept, adding a little ginger for zing and digestion and a few more Asian-style flavors. Thank you, Claire!

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　4 heads baby bok choy

　　2 tablespoons light sesame oil

　　2 scallions, white part only, thinly sliced

　　2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

　　1 cup peeled and finely diced garnet yam

　　Sea salt

　　2 tablespoons mirin (optional)

　　1 tablespoon tamari

　　1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

　　1/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

　　

Step 1

Trim the bases off the bok choy and discard. Trim the leaves from the stems and cut both crosswise into bite-size pieces, keeping the stems and leaves separate.

　　

Step 2

Heat the light sesame oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, then add the scallions and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds. Add the yam and a pinch of salt and sauté for an additional minute. Add the bok choy stems, mirin, and tamari and sauté for 2 minutes more. Add the bok choy leaves, lime juice, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and the toasted sesame oil. Cook until the bok choy is just wilted, about 2 minutes, then do a FASS check and add a squeeze of lime if desired. Serve immediately.

　　

storage

Step 3

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3 days.

　　

nutrition information

Step 4

(per serving)

　　

Step 5

Calories: 150

　　

Step 6

Total Fat: 6g (0.9g saturated, 2.2g monounsaturated)

　　

Step 7

Carbohydrates: 19g

　　

Step 8

Protein: 9g

　　

Step 9

Fiber: 6g

　　

Step 10

Sodium: 595mg

　　Excerpted from The Cancer Fighting Kitchen, copyright 2017 by Rebecca Katz and Met Edelson. Published with permission by Ten Speed Press.