Gailan Stir-Fry in Garlic and Mushroom Sauce

Chinese greens stir-fry in garlic and mushroom sauce is the vegan-friendly version of the classic Chinese stir-fry in oyster sauce. Once you master this super easy stir-fry dish, you will be able to prepare in-season Chinese greens with this recipe. Increasing your plant-based diet cannot be easier, and I’m sure even the children will finish their vegetables. :)

Gailan and other Chinese greens

This recipe features gailan as the star ingredient, but you can easily use other popular Chinese greens too:

• baby bokchoy
• yuchoysum
• napa cabbage
• mustard greens
• broccolini

You can even use vegetables that are usually not used in a Chinese stir-fry dish, such as:

• broccoli
• broccoli rabe
• iceberg lettuce
• romaine lettuce

All these different vegetables follow more or less the same recipe. The biggest difference would be in cooking time, i.e. the amount of time needed to cook each vegetable to tender, but still crunchy.

Step 1: Blanch the vegetables

Our goal with this step is to cook the vegetables to al dente, like pasta, except for vegetables. The steps are as follow:

1. Boil a pot of salted water.
2. Add 450 gram (1 lb.) of gailan (or your choice of greens), and cook until al dente. If you prefer a tenderer green, feel free to add 1 minute past the al dente point.
3. Drain with a colander really well. Make sure the vegetables are dry since any excess water will dilute our sauce. You can even use a salad spinner if you have one.
4. Arrange the well-drained gailan on a serving platter.

Next step, we will prepare the sauce and the fried garlic.

Step 2: Prepare the mushroom sauce and fry the garlic

For the mushroom sauce, you will need:

• 3 tablespoon mushroom sauce, sometimes also labeled as vegan/vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 tablespoon water
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Let’s make the sauce!

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Swirl to coat the pan.
2. Mix together all the sauce ingredients, then pour into the hot pan. Once the sauce boils, pour over the arranged gailan.

Now, let’s make the fried garlic. We will need 4 cloves of garlic and 2 tablespoons of oil.

1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, and swirl to coat. I usually just use the same pan for making the mushroom sauce.
2. Add minced garlic and fry until golden brown. Quickly sprinkle the top of the arranged gailan with the fried garlic and oil. Serve immediately.