Chinese Broccoli

Chinese Broccoli also known as Kai-lan or Gai-lan is one of my favorite vegetable to grow. It is also my favorite vegetable to stir-fry. I first encountered these delectable leafy vegetable when I traveled to Hongkong a decade or so ago. Most of the restaurants in Hongkong serve these delicious leafy greens mixed with meat, chicken or seafood. They are simply prepared but so good just the same and they are reasonably priced too. You can eat your heart out in Hongkong without breaking the bank or your wallet.
Chinese Broccoli is a leafy vegetable greyish- blue in color and have thick stems just like the regular broccoli. It will develop florets that would open into a bouquet of white flowers which the bees love. Planting is not difficult. The soil must be amended with compost and manure. You can sow the seeds directly into the prepared bed. I would dug up a trench then sow the seeds and cover with soil lightly. I would then cover the bed with window screen to protect the seeds from the birds before watering. Keep the soil moist during the entire growing season. Harvest them before the flower form.
Chinese Broccoli is also nutritious. It has Vitamins K, C, A, B-vitamins especially Folic Acid and Minerals like potassium, manganese, zinc and calcium.
Just like its cousin the Choi-sum, you can steam the leaves then add oyster sauce and fresh garlic or you can stir-fry it with other vegetables like green bell pepper, celery and carrots with tofu for vegetarians or with beef or chicken. For beef I always use top sirloin because it is tender than other cuts. For chicken, you may use breast or thighs, they are both good.
Chinese broccoli is in the family of Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, kale are some of them) which are well-known to be cancer fighters that’s why I grow them. Not only it is tasty, it will help me stay cancer-free.

Similar Posts

  • Kale

    The popularity of kale as a cancer-fighting vegetable made me decide to plant some. I started with seeds and the variety is called “Toscano”. It is a plain-leaf type. Some kales have curly leaves. Some are called ornamental kales because of their different colors and mostly used as decorative plant in the garden. I have…

  • Sweet Basil

    Sweet Basil (also known as Italian Basil) is the most used herb nowadays. That’s why I have it in the garden so I can readily pick the leaves if I need to make pesto or just plain use the leaves in pasta. I particularly like it in Penne Pasta Alfredo with Shrimp or Chicken. Sweet…

  • Lettuce Plus

    Its been raining today and I figured its the right time to transplant my lettuce seedlings. So I gathered the remaining lettuce from the garden to make room for the new transplants. I gathered some eggplants and Kinchay or leaf celery. The rain almost always makes it foolproof to plant such delicate plants like the…

  • Radish (Watermelon)

    I have been experimenting on almost every new things that come out of seed catalogs. I find it very interesting and challenging at the same time. One of those experiments is planting this “watermelon” radish. I planted them just like other radish seeds. They grow fast and as soon as you can see the roots…

  • Winged Beans

    I sowed the winged beans seeds together with the long beans and hyacinth beans last February. The long beans is almost finished producing but the winged beans are just starting to flower and I just saw one bean. Because the seed of the winged beans is so hard, you need to scarify it or soak…