In case it matters, preliminary research would seem to indicate that they're baby bok choy. Hence the cute thing they've got going, I guess.

find some baby carrots and mayo and make little tiny cole slaws.

Ooooo, lovely in a stir-fry. Don't chop them up, just put the leaves in whole. Or if they are tiny baby ones, slice down the middle and throw them in the wok with all the other veggies, noodles, etc.

It will work nicely in pretty much any kind of stir fry dish. Also, I don't know if you like Asian noodles or ramen type things much, but I like to chop up raw bok choy (if I can find it - otherwise, cabbage) and peanuts to mix in those.

oops.

OK, someone walk me through a stir-fry ("wok me through"? I crack myself up). I realize this is considered a Cooking 101 skill, but it's not one I ever developed.

fry. stir.

Ooooh! Ooooh! I know this one!

I made up this recipe a while ago. It is too delicious.

Ting Choy

3-4 bunches baby bok choy, washed and sliced, leaves separate from stem
1T olive oil
.5T sesame oil
.5T pumpkin seed oil
.75T whole grain mustard
hearty shake powdered ginger (or grated fresh ginger)

Heat the oils in a large saucepan. Add the mustard and stir rapidly until it sizzles. Sprinkle in the ginger, then add the stems of the bok choy. Stir fry for a few minutes, then add the leaves. Stir until cooked, then serve warm.

Fuzzbean, that recipe sounds wonderful. If I don't have pumpkin seed oil, will it suffer irrevocably?

Also, if anyone does take me up on the stir-fry instructions, my main concern is that it just that the flavors never seem to come together when I've tried to do it -- it just seems like a big plate of random vegetables. I know there are glazes and liquids and things you can add to help, but I don't know what those are. Also, I didn't even know noodles were an option; when do those get added in?

Fuzzbean - I'm adding that recipe to the cooking blog.

Occhi: No, it won't suffer irrevocably. The pumpkin seed oil adds a certain depth, but it does fine without it. Don't overload on the sesame oil though. (Incidentally, all amounts are approximate. I'm an inveterate glug-oil-into-pan-until-it-looks-about-right cook.) And a sprinkle of salt on top is good too.

Gaspode: Yay!

Jesus, we are all so lucky that specklet is mostly internet-free these days, because she has a song about baby bok choy that I'm sure she'd love to share. No need for y'all to suffer, because it's already stuck in my head. Thanks.

Sad. I want to hear the baby bok choy song! They are undeniably cute.

Careful what you wish for.

Some people do stirfry noodles, occhi, but I just cook whatever noodles I'm using separately.

I'm absolutely no expert, but my (quite limited) off-the-top-of-my-head stir-frying technique is to keep the number of ingredients fairly minimal. When I've stir-fried, for example, chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, and carrots, I don't like it. If I limit it to no more than half of those ingredients, it turns out much better. This was my most important discovery about stir-frying (in terms of my own taste, of course).

After I've stir-fried the vegetables and maybe chicken or beef, I'll often add chopped nuts, and chopped or shredded raw cabbage, zucchini, or cucumber - one or two crunchy things. I also don't use a lot of different sauces or condiments when stir-frying - usually not more than two or three things. I pretty much stick to soy sauce, with one (maybe two) of the following: sesame oil, ginger, mustard, lemon, curry, coconut.

Sometimes I might make other sauces to put on the table and add at will to your plate, like peanut sauce, a dipping sauce, or a sweet/sour kind of thing.

And though I think one is not supposed to use it (the smoking point is probably too low or something) I just use olive oil to stir fry because it's what I always have on hand.

So, in summary - I'm a very simplistic stir-fryer! But I've followed a number of complicated recipes with lots of ingredients, and usually been disappointed, so these days I go for a more minimalist approach, and usually make it up as I go along.

hmmm if'n you was me, you would chop those things down the middle and stir fry them with some carrots, broccoli and tofu (extra firm, marinated overnight in soy sauce, sesame oil, and sliced garlic). You'd start off stiry frying some onion and the soy-soaked garlic and then add the carrots (sliced thin so they cook in time with the rest) and I'd sauce it with some soy sauce concentrate (it's thicker than syrup and kinda molasses-ish) a bit of ginger and hot peppers. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and eat with soba noodles! I'd be more specific but this is one of those eyeball it things where you can follow your tastes and logic as far as proportions and doneness.

I really have to wonder about the kind of men who like bok choi, since it lacks the attributes of conventional vegitables, their essential vegetableness.

Hey, it has leaves, it photosynthesizes. Who are you as an animal to say who has the right to be a plant!?

Lotsa good tips on stir-fry technique recently at Ask MeFi.

When I stirfry, I start with the slower veggies - carrots, onions, garlic - and then gradually add the quicker veggies - bok choy, summer squash. I add the sauce about 3/4 of the way through and my all time favorite is a mixture of tamari, minced or pressed fresh garlic, lime juice, sesame oil, fresh minced ginger and hot sauce. What you do is wait until everything is almost done, then add the sauce (you can add an egg at this point too) and stir it all together. That's also when I add noodles, and cheap-o ramen noodles, separated from their MSG packets, work beautifully for stir frys. Cook them first & then toss them in. Sometimes if I'm doing meat too, I do it first, take it out & set it aside, then drain the fat, add some oil to the pan, do the veggies, and return the meat near the end when the veggies are done. Sometimes I take a little broth and toss it in, then cover for a couple of minutes. This helps get tough veg like carrots & broccoli done without making them turn gray & ick.

Bok choy is great for stir-fries. Here's one I did recently for wimpdork:

Braised Bamboo Shoots with Baby Boy Choy

Sauce: 1/2 cup broth (chicken, beef, whatever)
1/4 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce

Cornstarch: 1 teaspoon cornstarch in 2 teaspoons water

1 clove garlic, 3 slices ginger, both crushed
1 cup shittake mushrooms (I use dehydrated ones, and use the broth from re-hydrating for the sauce)
1/2 - 1 cup bamboo shoots, cut to stir-fry
3 baby bok choy, cut in half lengthwise

1. Add oil to wok, heat wok and oil on high heat.
2. Toss ginger and garlic in for 10-15 seconds to release their flavor.
3. Add mushrooms and stir-fry for one minute.
4. Add bamboo shoots and stir-fry for one minute.
5. Add sauce and mix thoroughly.
6. Reduce heat to medium, cover and braise for 6 minutes.
7. Add baby bok choy, cover and braise for 2-3 minutes.
8. Add cornstarch, mix with heat until fluids turn into thick sauce.
9. Remove from heat and serve.

Simple enough for even a novice cook like me. And I can always use more bok choy!

Take pictures of yourself making kissy faces at the cute widdle cabbages?

I was going to suggest pot stickers because they're really yummy, but apparently I confused bok choy with napa cabbage. Bah! Got any napa cabbage? lol

I usually steam it and then toss it with soy sauce, butter, and a little garlic. Then I eat it with a whole Dungeness crab.

/breaking stir-fry consensus

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to baby bok choy and stirfry: heat some vegetable oil in a pan, add some chopped garlic, toss in the bok choy and then season with a dash of salt and chicken stock powder.

I also like to add it as the veg to noodle soup: heat some stock, add some meat and bok choy and finish with a bit of sesame oil for extra flavour.

I added the lyrics of the baby bok choy song to my thread above. pup, don't hurt me.

When I cook bok choy I stir fry it in vegetable oil. I fry it in something with little flavor. If you're frying it, you want to fry it in a pan or wok that will get as hot as possible. Keep the flame as high as it can be. If your pan or wok is not that good and doesn't get that hot, unfortunately you won't get the real, nice, quick-heat seared effect on the bok choy.

For baby bok choy, I probably use about one tablespoon of vegetable (corn) oil per two or three bunches. I have a Calphalon unlined wok that works well for this (but it's halfway across the country from me right now... bah!). For extra flavor I would put in either a small dash of salt (once the bok choy is all coated with oil, but before it's fully cooked), or a small amount of sesame oil (half a tablespoon per two or three bunches a minute or two before you think it'll be cooked), or a small amount of oyster sauce (half a tablespoon per two or three bunches when it's cooked or just before it's cooked). In frying I look to cook it lightly, so the stems are warm but still crunchy in the middle. Unfortunately I don't know how I accomplish this.... I cook until I feel it's done :-/

Granted... my family is from Taiwan and the food is bland there. ;) We don't have exciting, fiery stuff like from Szechwan, for example. I don't have any techniques for putting peppers or garlic in or anything.

Oh yes: how I tell the oil is hot enough. There will be a puddle in the middle of your pan or wok. Poke it with a dry fork or a dry chopstick. Keep doing it until this makes a bubble rise. Then it's hot enough.

Things I like to cook with bok choy:

Dried shiitake, soaked and diced.
Dried baby shrimp.
Pork cut in little strips, kind of julienned.