I made this Asam Gai Choy as a side dish for the Chinese New Year Hotpot gathering. My late mom always made Asam Gai Choy or Kiam Chai Boey after a festive celebration. This dish is made with leftovers from a large meal.

Asam Gai Choy is a sour and spicy dish. You can adjust the sourness and spiciness according to your preference. I love it very sour and spicy. This dish is great with steam rice and very appetizing.

There are only a few key ingredients for this stew.

• Leftovers meat. Instead of leftovers meat, I used roasted pig feet. You can get this from Chinese BBQ store at a relatively cheap price, usually $1 to $1.50 per feet.

• Gai Choy or mustard greens. Gai Choy is a pungent green and is usually cooked for a long period with pork on bone to absorb the flavor form the meat. Mustard greens are extremely high in Vitamin A and K.
• Gai Choy comes in 2 types, big leaves and small leaves, They taste the same. I would prefer the small leaves if I can get them, save time on tearing up the big leaves.

• Pickled mustard. This will gives the dish the required saltiness without any addition of salt.

• Asam pei or tamarind skin. It gives the dish the sourish flavour. You may substitute with tamarind paste if the skin is not available.

• Dried chilies. The chillies give the dish the spiciness.

Click on the link below for the instructions.

Instructions

Thinly slice the pickled mustard. This is more for flavouring the dish.

Bring a pot of water to boil, about 6 to 8 cups of water, depending on how big is the dish. Add in the asam pei and dried chillies.

In another pot, bring a big pot of water to boil. Blanched the roasted pig feet to get rid of excess oil. If you are using leftover meat, they skip this process.

When the pot of water with dried chillies and asam pei comes to a boil, add in the pickled mustard and half of the Gai Choy.

Transfer the blanched pork feet to the pot with Gai Choy. Topped with the remaining of the Gai Choy. Bring back to a boil and lower the heat to simmer, covered for about 1 hour or until the Gai Choy is soft. Now, you know what to do with your leftover meats.