Baby Bok Choy and Dried Shiitake Mushroom a la Chinoise

Most authentic Chinese restaurants are geared toward large groups. The idea in most of these places is to order a variety of dishes to share. The sort of dishes that give a true picture of the level of a restaurant, that is, the dishes that aren't famous and popular like mapo tofu and cashew chicken (or, in Japan, shrimp in sweet and hot chili sauce), are usually not geared toward the solo diner. One of my favorites out of these dishes is baby bok choy and dried shiitake mushroom.

This is simple to make.

The first step is to soak the dried mushrooms. This can be done in cold water, but if you're in a hurry, just go ahead and start preboiling right from the start.

Once they're relatively soft, cut off the tip of the stem. Watch out for burns, as they're still hot. Don't toss out the water in the skillet, because mushroom water yields umami.

Once you've chopped up the mushrooms, add garlic, cooking sake, sesame oil, five spice, and mixed Okinawan spice and boil them some more. Notice I say "boil." Be sure to add some more water. While you're boiling the mushrooms, wash and chop the baby bok choy.

Pile the baby bok choy on top, and put on the lid. Once the greens are somewhat wilted, you're done. If you want, you can simulate a glaze by adding arrowroot powder dissolved into cooking sake, but if you're planning on packing this dish into a lunchbox, I wouldn't advise it. This dish is not soggy, so you won't have a sticky, drippy lunchbox.

The brown thing in the middle of the photo is tofu teriyaki, which makes a nice vegan steak.

★Variation★

If you swap out the baby bok choy for komatsuna, you can call this dish "a la japonaise." For a Japanese flavor, season with cooking sake, a little soy sauce, and fish stock (or mushroom stock, for a vegan alternative).