How to use choko (Chayote) in a stirfry

I love choko (also known as Chayote). I discovered it years and years ago at my local grocery store. I love trying new ingredients, especially new vegetables that are cheap to buy, easy to grow and can be used to bulk out a dish for the family. I purchased a few choko and experimented using them in dishes. My favourite dish to use choko in is a stir fry. It also works well shredded in a salad drizzled with dressing.

The flesh of the choko is pale, very firm and dense, kind of like a green cooking apple. Chokos themselves are mild in flavour, they take well to adsorbing flavour of spices and sauces in which they are cooked, because of this, I also like to use choko in curries like my Pumpkin & coconut cream curry

How to prepare a choko (Chayote) for cooking

When choosing a choko, select the younger fruit, as they are more tender, the older the fruit becomes the tougher the skin gets and the coating of the seed in the centre becomes woody.

You should peel the skin off the choko using a vegetable peeler (I didn’t peel the chokos once and the flesh cooked beautifully, but the skins were a bit raspy on the tongue and not easily chewable).

Each choko has a seed in the centre, much like a mango, albeit a lot smaller. Once peeled, slice the cheeks off the fruit, avoiding the seed.

Slice the flesh into thin slices, half and inch – 1 inch long, so it stir fries easily.

Stir fried choko (Chayote)

Nourished Heritage Home

This stir fry is a delicious way to use choko (Chayote). The choko takes on the flavours of the sauce and is a fantastic way to increase the vegetables in the dish.

4.45 from 9 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings people

Ingredients

2 tbs oil preferably an oil that can reach a high temperature before smoking, like peanut oil
½ cup of light soy sauce
¼ cup dark soy sauce
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs white sugar
½ tsp of white pepper
2 large garlic cloves or 2 heaped teaspoons of minced garlic from a jar
4 carrots sliced
1 yellow capsicum sliced bell pepper
1 green capsicum sliced bell pepper
2 chokos peeled and sliced thinly
400 grams firm tofu
2 tsp rice flour

Instructions

Place tofu in a bowl
Combine soy sauces, fish sauce and pepper and pour over tofu
Allow the tofu to marinate for at least 10 minutes
Heat up oil in the pan until very hot
Before placing tofu in the pan, pour the marinade into a small bowl and set aside
Add tofu to the pan and turn every few minutes until lightly browned
Add garlic and cook for only a few seconds (it will get bitter if it gets too browned)
Add prepared vegetables to the pan and cook for a few minutes (Add a dash of water if the ingredients are starting to get too brown and the vegetables are not yet as softened as you would like).
Add the set aside marinade, sugar, and cook for a further few minutes
To finish, mix the rice flour with about 1/2 cup of water. Add the rice flour and water mixture to the pan and toss quickly through to thicken the sauce.
Serve with freshly steamed rice.

Notes

Stir-fries are wonderfully versatile, so feel free to change up the ingredients to whatever vegetables you have in the garden or fridge, perhaps not pumpkin, it will go a bit mushy by the time it cooks through. You could try Asian greens, chard, silverbeet, celery, cabbage etc.

If you don’t have rice flour, corn flour (corn starch) or plain flour (all-purpose flour) will also work to thicken the sauce.

This dish also works well if you swap out the tofu and add chicken thighs or Lap Cheong (Chinese pork sausage).

If you would like to lower the amount of soy sauces are used, use 1/4 cup of each instead.

If you don’t have dark soy sauce or fish sauce, omitting these two sauces and replacing with oyster sauce will also work well.

Keyword Asian, Chayote, Choko, Stir fry

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