Pea shoots are the tender tips of baby pea plants and they’re so delicious in a Chinese-style stir fry with garlic and ginger. This recipe is free of the top 9 allergens as written.
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What are Pea Shoots?
Have you ever tried pea shoots, also known as snow pea leaf or dou miu? They’re the 4-6 inch tips of baby pea plants that are super yummy and tender with a mild flavor. It’s a delicious early-spring leafy vegetable, perhaps available in late-winter depending on where you live.
When the weather warms up the pea plants will grow taller with tendrils to help them climb to 4-6 feet on a trellis or other support. That’s exactly when the pea shoots will be too tough to eat. Pea shoots are available at Asian supermarkets and some Chinese restaurants all year round.
But depending on the growing season and the weather, the tenderness will vary but the high price will remain the same. So good, so easy to make, but time’s a ticking, the pea shoot season will be over soon. Go right now and buy some. You can find them at farmer’s markets.
Some Asian markets will have them pre-bagged and trimmed into bite size pieces (yes!!). Look for nice fresh leafy greens (not yellow). Touch them, they should be pliable. Little white flowers are ok, lots of tendrils are iffy and an indicator that the pea shoots might be tough.
Pea Shoots are Different from Pea Sprouts
It’s important to note that pea shoots are different from pea sprouts. Pea shoots are the baby pea plants as they emerge from the seed and look like grass or a lot of stems with tiny leaves. Pea sprouts are usually less expensive, more chewy, and less desireable than pea shoots.
Chinese-Style Pea Shoot Stir-Fry
My children love this and is the only vegetable that they will request at a restaurant. Currently it sells for about $10 per pound at an Asian supermarket or about $20-25 per order at a restaurant. Learning to make a restaurant quality dish at home has value.
Stir frying vegetables with garlic and ginger is a very common Cantonese cooking method. The garlic and ginger add a lot of flavor and have a lot of nutritional properties which aid in digestion and are good for our health.
Allergy Aware Pea Shoots
This recipe is free of the top 9 allergens as written. If allergic to either ginger or garlic, omit them from the recipe but feel free to season it lightly with soy sauce, oyster sauce, or sesame oil.
Pea Shoots with Garlic and Ginger
Ingredients
- 1 pound pea shoots volume of a basketball, about 1 pound?
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 inch ginger peeled and minced
Instructions
- Thoroughly wash pea shoots in cold water several times and trim them into 2-3 inch pieces. Remove any long tendrils.
- Preheat a large wok or 6-8 qt stockpot on medium heat (approximately 4-5 minutes).
- Add 1 teaspoon of olive oil, salt, minced ginger, and garlic and saute until fragrant (30-60 seconds).
- Add pea shoots and saute for 4-5 minutes until the leaves turn bright green.
Nutrition
Vegetable Side Dish Related Recipes
You might enjoy some of my other recipes featuring Chinese vegetables or vegetables cooked Asian style.
- Easy stir fry with Napa Cabbage
- Baby Bok Choy with Garlic and Ginger stir fry recipe
- Or the instant pot version of Baby Bok Choy from my cookbook
- Broccoli Stir Fry with Ginger and Garlic Sauce Recipe
- Fuzzy Melon (Moa Gua) with Vermicelli Recipe
- Yu Choy with Garlic, Easy Chinese Vegetable Stir-Fry
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I had no idea what these leaves were. Thank you! Delicious!
Oh yay!! I’m so glad that you were able to identify the leaves from my photos. Aren’t they super yummy?