Going Veggie

[Gul Re'jal]

My wok is the most precious possession in my kitchen

Bok choy, flowering cabbage, kale and all other kinds of cabbages are my addiction

[teacake]

I adore everything with cabbage and about cabbage and containing cabbage. Every possible kind of cabbage. I made a ton of kimchi last year, that was like the most exciting thing I've ever done.

[teacake]

btw regarding kale, I don't think I've ever had it or seen it. I've tried to find if there is an asian name for it but it always leads to vegetables that do not look like kale. Chinese kale appears to be Gai Lan or chinese broccoli which is commonly eaten with oyster sauce and which I've cooked many times.. but it doesn't look like what I see when I look up kale on its own in google images. I eventually found a blog that said "kale is not a commonly used vegetable in asian dishes". And not a commonly used vegetable in australia apparently.

So is it cabbagey?

[J. Allen]

It's seaweedy. When I had it in one of my salads, it tasted thin and reedy, with a slight tang reminiscent of something salty and a touch bitter. Definitely not cabbagey, at least not to me.

[teacake]

I got the impression it was bitter from things people said, some kind of bitter super food. Whereas I find cabbage in its many forms sweet.

I can imagine the seaweedy too.

[lurok]

I love curly kale, which is great in stir fry. As J. Allen said, yes, tangy seaweedy. I cook everything in my wok (even eggs), but have an oven dish (for roasting veggies) and saucepan (for soup/porridge/couscous). That's it. I'm not sure what else one needs

[Gul Re'jal]

In Hong Kong kale is very much a cabbage. I can't see much difference between it and flowering cabbage except for lack of flowers. That said, Hong Kong is notorious for its own "English" names for many veggies so it's not trustworthy I even used yo think flowering cabbage and kale were two alternate names for one thing, until I saw them next to each other on the shelf.

I'll take photos of kale the next time I buy it and post them here.

[teacake]

There aren't any flowers on the Kale google images gives though..

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4408/...ting-Kale.html

[RoJoHen]

J. Allen wrote:

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Last night we had tacos. Now, I've made tacos hundreds of times. The difference this time, however, was that I used soy crumbles instead of ground beef,

Soy makes me nervous, especially as a man. It has been shown to increase your body's estrogen levels if you start adding too much to your diet.

As for kale, I've found it to be pretty tasteless, but that's because the only way I'll eat it is if I blend it into a smoothie.

[teacake]

Bajillions of asians don't seem affected by this.

[RoJoHen]

teacake wrote:

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Bajillions of asians don't seem affected by this.

How do you know, though? Maybe that's why they're so tiny.

In all serious, though, it's not going to suddenly turn men into women, but it has been shown to cause things like gynecomastia, lowered sex drive, etc.

[Gul Re'jal]

teacake wrote:

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There aren't any flowers on the Kale google images gives though..

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4408/...ting-Kale.html

Well, what they call kale in Hong Kong looks nothing like the thing in your link.

I had a hunch and googled "Chinese kale"

Now, that's much more familiar: https://www.google.com/search?q=chinese+kale

Flowering cabbage is also called "choy sum" https://www.google.com/search?q=chin...wering+cabbage

[RoJoHen]

I didn't even know people ate kale until a couple years ago. I had only ever seen it used as a garnish.

[teacake]

Yeah I have bought choy sum. Chinese kale is called chinese broccoli here, it's very delicious. Not much different than choy sum really.

I'm going to assume kale is something of a fad? Seems like all of a sudden everyone was juicing it and going on kale diets.

[Gul Re'jal]

I can't see much difference in the taste either. I love them both Fried with a bit of garlic in the wok, maybe with a tad of veggie oyster sauce. Yum!

Hmm... I had different plans for tonight, but I think it'll end with a bowl of rice and fried cabbage