Thanks to the growth spurt in Asian restaurants and Asian markets in the United States, an increasing number of Americans can identify and feel comfortable with cooking and eating Asian vegetables, particularly leafy Asian greens. As members of the cruciferous vegetable family, Asian greens add both nutrients and interesting flavors to your family meals. And, in general, these greens are easy to work with and cook up quickly for a range of tasty dishes; some are tender enough to toss into the salad bowl without any precooking.

Because of their versatility, Asian greens are stalwarts in the Asian kitchen, maybe as revered—almost—as rice. Apparently, the Chinese are obsessed with eating greens: according to the Chinese news source, People’s Daily Online, the average Chinese consumes about 311 kilograms of vegetables each year; the world average is only 105 kg.

Learning the Asian Greens Vocabulary

Asian greens—and Asian vegetables, in general—offer countless pleasures, but many may also bewilder the Western shopper who is unfamiliar with them. What adds to the novice shopper’s confusion is that many Asian vegetables have more than one scientific name and several different marketplace titles.

For example, bok choy is also named pak choi; the long, white Chinese cabbage is commonly tagged napa cabbage; and choy sum is also known as yu choy and may be spelled choi sam. Then there’s tatsoi, a variety of bok choy. And to mix it all up, many grocers use the general term Chinese cabbage to refer to numerous cruciferous Chinese greens.

If you just learn about a few of the basic and the most commonly available Chinese greens and vegetables, you can use that knowledge as a stepping stone into the glorious worlds of Asian foods:

• Bok choy: Full heads of mature bok choy, and its increasingly popular very young form known as “baby bok choy,” are stalwarts of the Chinese wok. Although the very young plant is tender enough raw for a salad bowl yet captivating when stir-fried, it’s the older plant that is more readily available. With its thick white stems and its broad, veined leaves, bok choy stir-fries well, producing a tender and mild-tasting vegetable that pairs with many different flavors and textures.

• Napa cabbage: Chinese, or napa, cabbage is perhaps the most familiar of Asian greens to Westerners. Its firm, compact, and lengthy form is comprised of white stems shaping into very crinkly, long leaves. Finely shredded for a quick stir-fry, the leaves also work well in soups and stews; if you have the patience, you can also substitute whole napa cabbage leaves for rolling up and stuffing as you would Western cabbage rolls.

• Choy sum: Resembling a cross between Chinese broccoli and bok choy, this lively green has long, slender, pale-green stems; tapering green leaves; and little yellow flowers. You can stir-fry it, but adding it to soups and stews adds color and a gentle flavor.

• Chinese broccoli: Also known as gai lan, kai laan, or Chinese kale, Chinese broccoli has long stems topped by dark green leaves and clusters of little yellow flowers. Cooks use the whole head, possibly peeling the outer layer away from tough stem ends, thus making the whole plant pleasingly tender. It’s also popular in some other Asian countries, such as Thailand.