it’s a question
no.. a few questions actually
I has been asking myself
for quite time already
eg: how do you say Choy Sum in English?
no…
not the god of prosperity
that’s Choy Sun
the green leafy veggie
you found in your Wantan Noodle
how do you address it in English
01 - Choy Sum / Choi Sum / 菜心
- literally means “Veggie heart”
- Chinese flowering cabbage
- Sawi in Malay language
- a relative of Pak Choy (it has got a lot of names too)
- Chinese soup green
- Brassica parachinensis
- a member of the Mustard family
- 菜薹、广东菜薹、广东菜
02 - Pak Choi / Bok Choy / 白菜
- Brassica chinensis
- mustard family as well
- literally translated as White Veggie
- Chinese cabbage
4 categories of Pak Choi:
- Chinese White Bok Choi (大白菜)
- Shanghai Bok Choi (上海白菜 / 青江菜)
- Rossette Bok Choi / Tatsoi (塌菜)
- Canton type (奶白菜) / harvested early as Baby Bok Choi (奶白苗).
03 - Kai Choi / 芥菜
- Brassica juncea
- Mustard Greens
- is a member of the mustard family, obviously
- more pungent than the closely-related Brassica oleracea greens (kale, cabbage, collard greens, et cetera) ……. who are them????
- the one used for pickled salted veggie
- 大菜 = large veggie
- 盖菜
04 - Gai Lan / Kai Lan / 芥藍
- Brassica alboglabra
- Chinese Broccoli
- Chinese Kale
- Left Broccoli
ni hao Kai Lan
the Mandarin learning cartoon
I have no idea how come Gai Lan to Broccoli
I always think Broccoli is a friend of Cauli Flower
Brocolli and Gai Lan even sounds similar in Mandarin
芥蘭花 and 芥蘭菜
Gailan = chinese broccoli in English
Broccoli = Flowery Gai Lan in Mandarin
okay just forget it
05 - Ong Choi / Weng Cai / 蕹菜
- Ipomoea aquatica
- a member of the Morning Glory family (Convolvulaceae).
- closely related to sweet potato (Ipomea batatas)
- Kangkung in malay, the one with Nasi Lemak
- Water Spinach
- Kong Xin Cai (空心菜)… empty-heart veg / hollow veg, why?
- swamp cabbage
- 應菜 / 空心菜 / 無心菜 / 壅菜 / 藤菜 / 葛菜 / 甕菜
06 - Tong Ho / 茼蒿
- chrysanthemum coronarium
- Chrysanthemum Greens, Garland Chyrsanthemum
- 打某菜 / 春菊
07 - Sang Choi / 莴苣 / 生菜
- Lactuca sativa var. asparagina, augustana, or angustata
- Celtuce
- stem lettuce
- celery lettuce
- asparagus lettuce 莴筍
- 唐生菜 / 春菜
08 Yau Mak / 油麥
- Lactuca sativa var. longifolia Lam.
- long leaf lettuce
- 莜麦菜 /
09 - “Bitter Lettuce” / 苦麥菜
- Ixeris chinensis
- Rabbit milkweed
- 兔仔菜 / 鵝仔菜 / 小苦苣 / 苦尾菜
- 山莴苣 = Wild celery lettuce
10 - Yin Choi / 莧菜
- Bayam is more common than the mandarin name back here
- red Bayam / green Bayam
- Amaranth leaf
- 荇菜 / 莕菜
11 - Gao Gei Choi / 枸杞菜
- Lycium barbarum
- Goji / Wolfberry shoots / leaves
- we cook it as soup, with egg, just like seaweed soup
- thorny stalk
- 枸杞苗 / 葉
12 - Lo Kui / 落葵
- Basella alba
- Malabar Spinach
- Ceylon / Indian Spinach
- Red Vine Spinach
- Climbing Spinach
- yet not related to spinach
- sticky texture
- 帝王菜 / 木耳菜 / 落葵 / 胭脂菜
- 帝王菜, the Malaysian Mandarin name is literally translated as Emperor veggie
13 - Sai Yong Choy / 西洋菜
- Nasturtium officinale, N. microphyllum
- formerly Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum, R. microphylla
- remember the street at Mongkok, HK
- water cress,
- because that’s where it grows
- botanically related to garden cress, mustard & radish
- 豆瓣菜 / 水蔊菜 / 水芥 / 水田芥菜 / 水茼蒿
14 - Bo Choi / 菠菜
- Spinacia oleracea
- 菠菱，鹦鹉菜，红根菜，飛龍菜
Popeye the sailor man…
but seriously
I have never tasted canned spinach
do you?
oh no
I am so dying to get the answers
3 a.m. in the morning,
day 3 of Chinese New Year
still green-googling
15 - Fan Shee Mew / 番薯葉
- Ipomoea batatas, same name for sweet potato
- Sweet Potato Leaves or Shoots
- 地瓜葉 / 番薯苗
16 - Choi Dam / 菜膽
- Brassica oleracea
- Brussels sprout
- wild mini cabbage
- 甘藍小包菜 / 小椰菜
into a table:
| Choi / Choy / Cai | 菜 | Vegetables |
| Choi Sum | 菜心 | Chinese flowering cabbage sawi (Malay) |
| Pak Choi | 白菜 | Chinese white |
| Kai Choi | 芥菜 | Mustard Green |
| Gai Lan | 芥蘭 | Chinese Broccoli |
| Ong Choi | 蕹菜 | Water Spinach Kangkung (Malay) |
| Tong Ho | 茼蒿 | Chrysanthemum Greens |
| Sang Choy | 莴苣 / 生菜 | Chinese lettuce asparagus lettuce |
| Yau Mak | 油麥菜 | Long leaf lettuce |
| “Bitter Lettuce” | 苦麥菜 | Rabbit milkweed |
| Yin Choi | 莧菜 | Amaranth / Chinese Spinach Bayam (Malay) |
| Gao Gei Choi | 枸杞葉 | Wolfberry shoots |
| Lo Kui | 帝王菜 / 落葵 | Malabar Spinach Ceylon Spinach |
| Sai Yong Choi | 西洋菜 | water cress |
| Bo Choi | 菠菜 | spinach |
| Fan Shee Mew | 番薯葉 | Sweet potato shoots |
| Choi Dam | 菜膽 | Brussels Sprout |