These asian vegetables are commonly used in chinese soups and chinese cooking.
I consulted many reference books while researching and writing for these chinese vegetable pages and find them quite difficult to understand and it took me a while to re-write it in a way I could understand and appreciate.
As much as possible, vegetable pictures are posted. Some of the pictures are taken by me. Alas, I am a very amateurish photographer so I had to rely on friends I met on the web and at flickr.
I hope this list becomes a good starting point for many who are interested in chinese cooking to get to know some common asian vegetables. The list is brief because details of each asian green featured here have their own individual pages.
I will use the Cantonese names of the asian vegetables if I think they are more well known than the mandarin names. A good example is bok choy. I will also include the mandarin name as transliterated in hanyu pinyin.
Preparing Asian Vegetables With Bare Hands
I started helping out in the kitchen when I was fairly young. My grandmother did not like the idea of me holding a knife. So, I was shown how to pluck and pinch green leafy vegetables into bite-sized pieces by hand. I was often directed to a corner of the kitchen floor with a bunch of vegetables for "cutting" and a stack of newspapers to lay on the floor to catch the sand and dirt from the vegetables. A red round plastic strainer for placing the vegetables before washing complete my arsenal. I spent many happy hours preparing these asian vegetables. It felt good to be a part of the effort to prepare the family dinner.
I missed those days!
One of these days I will take videos of how to prepare asian vegetables by hand and post them here...when I finally learnt how to take and edit video clips.
This is a growing list. Do come back often to check for new content.
Green Leafy Vegetables
Bok Choy 小白菜
Also known as chinese white cabbage, pak choy (another transliteration of the cantonese), 白菜 (bai cai in mandarin) and chinese chard. Learn how to prepare and cook bok choy.
Chinese Lettuce
Photo source: Geoff604 at flickr
Chinese lettuce is known as sang choy in Cantonese and sheng cai in mandarin 生菜. In Taiwan it is known as 莴苣 (Wo ju). Learn how to prepare and cook chinese lettuce.
Chinese Spinach
Photo source: avlxyz at flickr
Also known as amaranth, yeen choy (cantonese), 苋菜 (xian cai in mandarin). Learn how to prepare and cook chinese spinach.
Chinese Watercress
Chinese watercress is apparently brought to Southern China and Macau via Spain. It has one of the highest SOD levels and is supposed to be good for the lungs. It is most common seen in soups and many like to cook till it turns mushy and dark.
Learn how to make 3 chinese soups using the watercress
Choy Sum
Photo source: FotoosVanRobin at flickr
Choy sum is also known as the chinese flowering cabbage, 菜心 (cai xin in mandarin), yow choy, and yow choy sum (those with yellow flowers). Learn how to prepare and cook choy sum.
Chrysanthemum Leaves
Photo source: Jimmy Hsu at flickr.
Chrysanthemum leaves is known as tong ho or 茼蒿 (tang ho ). More at the Learn how to prepare and cook chrysanthemum leaves.
Napa Cabbage
Photo source: Forest and Kim Starr at mediawiki.
The napa cabbage is also known as the celery cabbage and the peking cabbage 北京白菜 (Beijing bai cai). The scientific name is brassica pekinensis. So named as it is grown in Peking (the old name of Beijing, the capital of China). It should not be mistaken with the common green cabbage (Brassica oleracea) which is round. Learn how to prepare and cook napa cabbage.
Water Spinach
Water spinach 空心菜 (kong xin cai) is related to the common morning glory which is a very common wild plant with purple, pink or white flowers. Learn how to prepare and cook water spinach/kang kong.
Tubers and Roots
Daikon
Photo source: Chris 73 at Wikipedia
Daikon is the japanese name for the big white radish. It is called 白萝卜 (bai luo bo) in mandarin hanyu pinyin, and "lo bak" in Cantonese. It is a tuber that looks like the carrot, except it is whitish in colour. Learn how to prepare and cook daikon.
Lotus Root
Photo source: yewenyi on flickr.
Lotus root 莲藕 (lian ou) is the root portion of the lotus plant. The plant grows in ponds with the flowers, stems and leaves above the water and the roots below the water. Learn how to prepare and cook lotus root.
Sprouts & Shoots
Bean sprouts 豆芽 (dou ya)
Photo source: Stefan Eberlein at wikimedia
Bean sprouts is a generic term for sprouts from any kind of beans. However in Chinese cuisine, it generally refers to either the mung bean sprouts or the soy bean sprouts. More at the Learn how to prepare and cook bean sprouts
Melon and Squash
Winter Melon
冬瓜 (dong gua) looks like a water melon but is actually a squash. It has little taste but absorbs the flavours of the food it is cooked with. Learn how to prepare and cook winter melon.
Spaghetti Squash
When cooked, the squash flesh flakes into thin shreds that look like shark fins. In other places, it is known as the spaghetti squash and the shreds has been described as spaghetti or noodle. Check out this shark fin squash soup recipe.
Bitter Melon
Bitter melon 苦瓜 (ku gua) is a fruit of a climbing vine. It is pale green and cucumber-like with a bumpy, grooved skin. The centre of the fruit is white and spongy with the seeds embedded within. Check out some bitter melon recipes.
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