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Everything about kai choi

What every professional kitchen needs to know about kai choi: origin, flavour, preparation and storage.

What is kai choi?

Kai choi (芥菜) — also known as gai choy, Chinese mustard greens or mustard leaf vegetable, botanically Brassica juncea, in Indonesia known as sawi pahit — is the Chinese mustard green with broad, ridged leaves and a pronounced mustardy-pungent flavour.

There are many varieties of kai choi, from small leaf forms to large head-cabbage-like shapes. The most commonly used in the food service trade is the leaf variety with firmly crinkled leaves and thick stems.

芥菜kai choiChinese mustard greensChinese mustard greens

Origin & tradition

Kai choi originates from China and has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. The plant adapts well to cooler climates and is grown from central China to South Asia.

In the Chinese cuisines of Sichuan and Yunnan, kai choi is the base for fermented pickled mustard greens (zha cai and suan cai). In Cantonese cuisine it is stir-fried fresh or used as a flavouring in soups.

Flavour & texture

The flavour is distinctly bitter with a clear mustardy heat. Fresh kai choi is more intense than the pickled variety. Heat moderates the bitterness somewhat but the character is retained. Kai choi pairs excellently with fatty dishes — the bitterness cuts through the richer flavours of pork, duck and shrimp.

In Chinese cuisine, pickled kai choi (酸菜) is essential in Sichuan sauerkraut soup. In Vietnamese cuisine, salted and fermented mustard greens (dưa cải) are used in bún bò Huế and other noodle soups. In Indonesian cuisine it is pickled as acar sawi or sold dried as sawi asin. In Japanese cuisine the pickled variety is known as takana-zuke — the standard ramen topping in Kyushu tonkotsu. In Korean cuisine as gat kimchi from Jeju.

Kitchen applications

Pickling as dưa cải (Vietnam) — fermented mustard greens in bún bò Huế and rice noodle soups
Japanese takana ramen topping in Kyushu-style tonkotsu ramen
Korean gat kimchi — fermented mustard green kimchi variety from Jeju
Indonesian acar sawi or sawi asin as a condiment
Stir-fried with garlic and red chili as a spicy Chinese side dish
Flavour base in Chinese suancai yu (sauerkraut soup with fish)

Storage & freshness

Store at 2 to 4°C. Kai choi is more robust than the softer brassicas; the thick leaves retain moisture longer.

Use within 4 to 5 days. Remove any yellowed outer leaves; the interior keeps well longer.

Professional kitchen tip

Blanch kai choi for 30 seconds in salted boiling water before using it in the wok. This tempers the bitterness and brightens the colour.

Pickling kai choi in salt, sugar and rice vinegar for 24 hours produces a crisp, tangy side dish.

Fresh Kai Choi delivered daily to your kitchen

Choina delivers fresh Asian produce every morning to restaurants and wholesalers across the Netherlands and Belgium — Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Antwerp and Brussels. No minimum order.

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