Mystery Vegetable

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Steve Kroll

Wine Guy
Joined
Mar 29, 2011
Messages
6,345
Location
Twin Cities, Minnesota
Several weeks ago I picked up some vegetables at the nursery and planted them. One was labeled "Gai Lan (aka Chinese Broccoli)." As it started to grow, I began noticing that it looks nothing like the vegetable in the photo on the tag. It was in with all the other Chinese vegetables, so I assume it's something native to that part of the world. I've done a bit of Googling and haven't yet found anything like it. My guess is that it's a member of the cabbage family.

Can anyone identify this?

img_1514749_0_346cba640efb2ee2ac0a67baa41a208a.jpg
 
Soften the leaves up and make pork rolls...like stuffed cabbage. Still waiting on Dad. He buys lots of the odd veg at H-Mart.
 
It looks like a cross between collards and kale to me. Neither Craig or I remember seeing any greens that look like that in the oriental markets, even the very large 1 we go to.
 
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I would take the picture to the place you bought it and explain your predicament. You just might get a free Gai Lan plant out of the trip.
 
The more I research, the more I'm convinced it's probably some kale variety. When I planted it, I wasn't expecting it to grow as large as it has, and now it's kind of overtaken the planter. I'll prune it out some today. I just didn't want to do that if I was waiting for a broccoli-type flower head to develop.

Oh well... I like kale, so it's all good! ;)
 
I vote Kale as well.
At first I thought maybe Mustard Greens,
but the leaves look leathery-sh, yeah Steve?
Did you taste it Steve? I have a habit of
tasting things in the raw even in the nursery.

DH was not a fan Kale at first, but after numerous
experiments, I've got him convinced, but just not too
often.
I braise the heck out of it, well, not to mush anyways,
along with some sort of protein.
Recent Kale dishes at our table have included
Chicken Italian Sausage or diced Chicken Thigh meat,
along with oodles of sauteed garlic, EVOO and chicken stock
for the braising liquid,oh and a glug of white wine and I always add a good grating of fresh nutmeg.
I serve this over whole wheat penne pasta and grated cheese on top
:yum:
 
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