Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce and Sizzled Garlic
Inspired by techniques from America's Test Kitchen and Serious Eats.
Gai lan blanched until crisp-tender, cut into lengths and finished with oyster sauce thinned with a little sesame oil, then a pour of sizzling garlic oil.
Always check the labels of the products you use.
Method
- 1
Blanch. Bring the water to the boil with the salt. Add the gai lan and cook for 2-3 min until the stalks are just crisp-tender. Meanwhile, loosen the oyster sauce with 1 tbsp of the hot water and the sesame oil.
- 2
Drain well. Lift the gai lan out with tongs, let it drip over the pot, then lay it on kitchen paper and pat dry. Any water left on the leaves would dilute the sauce. Arrange on the platter with the stalks pointing one way and cut across into 5 cm lengths.
- 3
Sizzle and serve. Heat the vegetable oil in the small pan until just smoking. Spoon the oyster sauce over the greens. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the garlic and immediately pour the crackling oil over the gai lan. Serve at once.
Storage
Best eaten fresh. Refrigerate leftovers up to 1 day and reheat briefly in a hot pan until piping hot (74 °C). Cool leftovers in a shallow container and refrigerate within 2 hours (within 1 hour on a day above 32°C).
EU nutrition claims
- Low saturated fat: 0.7 g saturated fat per 100 g, 6.4% of energy (limits ≤ 1.5 g and ≤ 10%)
- Low sugars: 0.9 g sugars per 100 g (limit ≤ 5 g)
- Source of fibre: 2.9 g fibre per 100 kcal (needs ≥ 1.5 g)
Per 100 g of the finished dish, worked out from the nutrition per serving and the lowest likely cooked weight (about 106 g a serving), so the true values are, if anything, lower. Thresholds from the Annex to EU Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. How we decide
Free sugars
0 g per serving
0 % of the 50 g daily maximum · 0 % of the ideal 25 g
Free sugars under 50 g a day, ideally about 25 g, based on WHO free-sugar guidance (not endorsed by WHO). The share shown is the share of one serving. WHO
Equipment
- large pot
- tongs
- kitchen paper
- warm serving platter
- small frying pan
- small bowl
Nutrition per serving (estimated values)
| Per serving | Amount |
|---|---|
| Energy | 99 kcal |
| Protein | 1.5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 6 g |
| of which sugars | 1 g |
| of which free sugars | 0 g |
| Fat | 8.3 g |
| of which saturates | 0.7 g |
| Fibre | 2.9 g |
| Salt | 1.12 g |
Protein per 100 kcal
1.5 g High Protein needs ≥ 5 g (20% of energy)
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient values
