#148 Flank steak with Bok choi

Bok choi (one of the vegetables pictured below) is a green leafy vegetable,  it has white succulent stalks and is highly nutritious. It is also called chinese cabbage, pak choi, or bokchoy. You can find plenty in Asian markets and in the leafy green section of your favorite grocery store. We grow it also in the Philippines and we call it Pechay, or Petsay. It is really easy to grow, my Mom has a garden full of it. Ever wonder what you can make with bok choi leaves?  There are many ways to enjoy it! We add it in clear soups and stir fries. This recipe by Lisa Bell that I found years ago in a Cooking Light magazine is just one of many dishes that you can make using bokchoy, she added shiitake mushrooms, but I omitted it. You can add about a cup of sliced shiitake, and cook it with the bell peppers and onions, it tastes great! I have tried making it with shiitake many times, I just did not have any on that day. What I love about this recipe? It's quick cooking and inexpensive, low in fat since very little oil is required, and the use of a leaner cut of beef: the flank steak. Bok choi contains just 13 calories per 100g. It's a delicious dish that will allow extra calories to consume for the day. :)

Yield: serves 4

 

FLANK STEAK with BOK CHOI

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
4 teaspoons cornstarch, divided
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound flank steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
Cooking spray
1 cup thinly vertically sliced onion
1 cup red bell pepper strips
4 cups sliced bok choy (about 1 medium head)
1 cup less-sodium beef broth

Directions:

1. Combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons cornstarch, oil, and crushed red pepper in a large zip-top bag; add steak to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 20 minutes.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray, and add onion, and bell pepper to pan. Cook 3 minutes or until crisp-tender; transfer to a large bowl. Add bok choy to pan; sauté 2 minutes or until slightly wilted; add to bowl; keep warm.
3. Recoat pan with cooking spray. Add half of steak mixture to pan; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a large bowl; keep warm. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add remaining steak mixture to pan; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Add to bowl; keep warm.
4. Combine broth and remaining 2 teaspoons cornstarch, stirring with a whisk. Add to pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil; cook 1 minute or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Return steak and vegetables to pan; toss gently to coat.

Recipe adapted from: Lisa Bell, Cooking Light, 2005

 

Flank steak is a lean, flavorful, boneless cut favored in Asian cuisines. This thin, flat steak comes from a well-exercised part of the cow, as evidenced by its striated muscle fibers and connective tissue.

Eat up your bokchoy!  Here are the nutritional benefits of this low calorie vegetable:

• Bok choy is one of the popular leafy-vegetables very low in calories. Nonetheless, it is very rich source of many vital phyto-nutrients, vitamins, minerals and health-benefiting anti-oxidants.
  
• 100 g of bok choy contains just 13 calories. It is one of the recommended vegetables in the zero calorie or negative calorie category of foods which when eaten would add no extra weight to the body but in-turn facilitate calorie burns and reduction of weight.
  
• As in other Brassica family vegetables, bok choy too contains certain anti-oxidant plant chemicals like thiocyanates, indole-3-carbinol, lutein, zea-xanthin, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Along with dietary fiber, vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon, and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels in the blood.
  
• Fresh pak choi is an excellent source of water-soluble antioxidant, vitamin-C (ascorbic acid). 100 g provides 45 mg or 75 % of daily requirements of vitamin C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
  
• Bok-choy has more vitamin A, carotenes, and other flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidants than cabbage, cauliflower, etc. Just 100 g of fresh vegetable provides 4468 IU or 149% of daily-required levels vitamin A.
  
• Pak choi is a very good source of vitamin K, provides about 38% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K has a potential role in bone metabolism by promoting osteotrophic activity in bone cells. Therefore, enough vitamin K in the diet makes your bone stronger, healthier and delay osteoporosis. Further, vitamin-K also has established role in curing Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
  
•  Fresh bok choy has many vital B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish.
  
• Further, this leafy vegetable is a moderate source of minerals, particularly calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important electrolyte in the cell and body fluids that helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Iron is required for the red blood cell formation.
  

   source: http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/bok-choy.html

Good food that is really easy to make!