Last week I made the Pad Khana Bacon Krop (Thai-Style Stir-Fried Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce and Bacon) recipe from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

This dish was kind of similar and kind-of not to the Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce the previous week. It’s less saucy, but spicier, and of course the titular bacon is an addition. The stir-fry was a little more straightforward, too, as you don’t blanch the Chinese broccoli.

No new ingredients for this dish. You cook bacon until the fat’s rendered, add garlic and chiles, add the Chinese broccoli, then add oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. It is very quick and very simple.

Like the Stir-Fried Napa Cabbage with Vinegar and Chiles, the aroma of the bacon while cooking greens reminded me of southern US cuisine, but the flavor didn’t quite match. The heat and bacon fits, but otherwise I thought this dish tasted unique. I thought it was great and could easily work with other greens like spinach and kale. My wife thought it was better than the Chinese Broccoli with Oyster Sauce dish, but still wouldn’t choose to have it again. I think she’d be happier with a kale version of it.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.