choko, our new vegetable of choice

mmmmm! we have a new vegetable in town thanks to Luke Nguyen's Vietnam which bea and i have been pretty into watching. she loves cooking shows! it's so fun. she looks at all the different dishes and asks me if i feel like eating them.

so today at the fruit and veg shop i just had to get our first choko, aka chayote, which is a light green wrinkly fruit from south/central america. i say fruit, but it's used as a vegetable.

we made stir fried beef with choko and red onions. it was inspired by a dish from Luke Nguyen's show. quick and easy paired with steamed rice and a few salad greens.

• 1 choko, cut into match-sticks (think french fries)
  


• 250 grams of thinly sliced beef (preferably free-range or organic or both!)


• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  


• vegetable oil


• sesame oil


• soy sauce


• fish sauce


• cracked pepper
  


• a lime


• sesame seeds


• thinly sliced red onion (amount is up to you)

1. marinate the beef in a teaspoon of sesame oil and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and set aside


2. heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok, and add the garlic. when you can smell it cooking add the beef and turn up the heat - quickly toss it in the wok until almost almost cooked and then remove from the wok and set aside


3. add the choko to the wok and allow it to brown a little


4. add 3 tablespoons of fish sauce and some cracked pepper. toss the choko until it is slightly transparent looking but still a bit firm. put the beef back into the wok.


5. transfer into a bowl to serve - top with the red onion, sesame seeds and a squeeze of lime

bea gobbled hers up!

i think it would be quite good with some fresh red chili thrown in as well. choko is high in amino acids and vitamin C, and takes on the other flavours of the dish.