Thai kale ... what is it really?

[petercouz]

We grow Phak Kana in our garden, but now start to pick it very early when just a baby plant - you only then need to cook it in boiling water very briefly and you have a very delicious and sweet vegetable that is great to eat without any adornment - put a plate of it on the table and just eat it with your normal Thai dinner as an accompaniment - delicious

[Jeffkp]

A Thai friend of mine will not eat kale. He claims a lot of chemicals are used to grow it and he doesn't think it safe. but I guess if you grow your own...?

[petercouz]

Agreed Jeffkp - same with any type of cabbage - huge amounts of pesticides used on these i believe - 'no chemi' is a very positive watchword among Thai now, especially with concerned parents of young kids - a lot of Thai people now are very aware and wary of buying these vegetables now - our homegrown is organic and boosted with the use of our own chicken manure - you could grown baby Kana is pots and window boxes, quite easily if you dont have a garden

[tonray]

where can I buy Broccoli rabe in Bangkok ? I miss that bitter tasting green sauteed with garlic / olive oil and chiles......man oh man....over bowtie pasta with a bit of bacon thrown in for flavor.........heaven on earth.

[tutsiwarrior]

Google Brassica Oleracea and you will see this plant has many subspecies. I don't know how much of the amazing diversity of this species is due to man or nature.

Specifically it's Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra. See https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/คะน้า

'alboglabra'?

would that be linear, multivariable...or, simply, mathematically undefined gobbledygook!!!

(I love 'gobbledygook', don't you?)

I sorta like this one: linear, empirically proved and elegant

T_f = 1.8T_c + 32

and it makes a difference in our daily comprehension of most things in general...

(jeezuz it's hot...whew...)

Romanesco broccoli, my favorite mathematical vegetable.

yahs....it does have an appealing symmetry, must admit...

but what does it taste like?

(the knife is sharpened and onions and garlic are added to the hot oil and then tutsi examines the symmetrical ingredent in preparation for de preparation: 'hmmm, yahs...yahs...')

Edited November 16, 2015 by tutsiwarrior

[facthailand]

It's on menus all over Thailand. It's Thailand so here they just call it kale. But I know it's not the same as western kale. So it's Thai kale. Like a French kiss. In France, that's just a kiss.

In Brussels, they're just sprouts!

[facthailand]

Thai kale is among the leaf vegetables most heavily contaminated with fertilisers & pesticides.

HIGHLY recommend you thoroughly wash your kale! Soak with a couple of tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda. A little vinegar can be added, too.

THREE rinses, scrubbing the leaves with your hands each time.

This should be your standard veg protocol in Asia where far too many of the fruit & veg come from China. (Gotta love than humanure!)

[vukovar77]

I googled 'thai kale' and it came up 'thai kale with pork' which indeed is a common dish...my folks just refer to it as 'pak' like all other veges...

it's the most ubiquitous leafy green vege in Thailand, it seems...always available everywhere...I usually wash thoroughly, remove the tough stems, chop once roughly diagonally and add to a stir fry (on top, any stir fry; chicken , pork, tofu, etc) cover and steam during last few minutes of cooking...

not bad....

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=thai+kale&rlz=1C1CHWA_enSA644SA644&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&imgil=jwl1kb-XJA5gAM%253A%253B0EpSddxQuo_l4M%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.thaivisa.com%25252Fforum%25252Ftopic%25252F680476-can-i-find-strong-leafy-vegetables-in-the-fresh-markets%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=jwl1kb-XJA5gAM%253A%252C0EpSddxQuo_l4M%252C_&usg=__2NYCbLrbBzqDGyxdBU2JxvrYFDo%3D&ved=0CCYQyjdqFQoTCPGjhKzKkMkCFQxOjgodsjcAAA&ei=ZoJHVvHYIIycuQSybw#imgrc=jwl1kb-XJA5gAM%3A&usg=__2NYCbLrbBzqDGyxdBU2JxvrYFDo%3D

ผักคะน้า

p̄hạk khan̂ā

[KevWaters]

Thai kale is among the leaf vegetables most heavily contaminated with fertilisers & pesticides.

HIGHLY recommend you thoroughly wash your kale! Soak with a couple of tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda. A little vinegar can be added, too.

THREE rinses, scrubbing the leaves with your hands each time.

This should be your standard veg protocol in Asia where far too many of the fruit & veg come from China. (Gotta love than humanure!)

Cheers for the heads up.

I buy "kale" and "tipped kale" very often from Tops Daily and have only been rinsing it under the tap so far. I have no first hand experience of seeing Thai people use chemicals for farming. Better take precautions.

[onionluke]

Kana moo gop is a standard dish in issan. Bbq pork Chinese style, garlic , fresh chilli a bit of soy or mushroom sauce. We grow it in yhe garden up country.

[firefox999uk]

Tutsi my man...it tastes exactly the same as cabbage.....i eat it 2 or 3 times a week.

Have a Nice Day

[timber]

My breakfast consists of coconut water, two bananas and a cup of chinese kale made into a smoothie.

I am in my seventies and since I have been on this diet feel wonderful. May not be as good as Western ]

Kale but gives me a lot of nutrition, energy etc. Don't think it is far behind and it a better than a lot of

things. Tastes wonderful.

[ozyjon]

Yes the Kale,

i travel a lot so i'm not home in Sydney often,

when i am i like to watch television to relax,

there was for a time the Kale trend where in

every conversation, the word Kale had to be

used at least 3 times or you weren't trendy,

i'm sure there was Kale toothpaste, Kale

aftershave, Kale soap, Kale deodorant and

Kale antiseptic, the hello word was replaced

with Kale to see you, so my sister was at my

house one night where we all greeted each

other with the Kale hello, so as a Portuguse

by birth i asked my sister, what's Kale in our

traditional language,, ''couve'' she replied,

i nearly fell over, i've been this now so

trendy rubbish since i was born, the good

thing about being an adult is i can decide

that i hate all things Kale, trendy or not and

if i decide to eat a double pepperoni pizza

with 12 spoons of sugar on it i will, stuff all

you trendy Kale munches i hope you choke

on it, i like to feel the cholesterol flowing

through my veins.

[ChoakMyDee]

I've been juicing with't this "Thai kale" for a year or so now. I didn't see an answer to the OP's question, is it really kale or is it just called kale by the Thais?

From the OP:

"...But what is it exactly?

Is it a different kind of kale?
Is it not really kale, just called kale?

Is Thai kale as wonderfully nutritious and health promoting as western kale? "

I'm curious to know the answers too.

[tutsiwarrior]

Tutsi my man...it tastes exactly the same as cabbage.....i eat it 2 or 3 times a week.

Have a Nice Day

firefox, I was referring the fantastically shaped 'broccoli' in post #30...

dunno about thai kale tasting the same as cabbage...the kale has a bitter taste but not at all unpleasant and chinese cabbage is 'sweet' in comparison...

that's one thing that I miss when away from Thailand at work...an abundance and variety of veges...first thing when I get home is find watever is available and then get out the wok and stir fry with either chicken breast or locally made tofu...

the locally made tofu looks and tastes just like the stuff that you find in provincial markets in Vietnam...(here's tutsi cooking up a storm on his hotplate in his beach cabin on the spectacular north central coast...knockin' back the Vodka Hanoi and singin': 'yew ain't nothin' but a hound dog...')

[onionluke]

This is the very dish . I prefer the pork a bit crispier. The pork is bought roasted/barbecued already.

Kana moo gop is a standard dish in issan. Bbq pork Chinese style, garlic , fresh chilli a bit of soy or mushroom sauce. We grow it in yhe garden up country.

Edited November 17, 2015 by onionluke

[loong]

Tutsi my man...it tastes exactly the same as cabbage.....i eat it 2 or 3 times a week.

Have a Nice Day

firefox, I was referring the fantastically shaped 'broccoli' in post #30...

dunno about thai kale tasting the same as cabbage...the kale has a bitter taste but not at all unpleasant and chinese cabbage is 'sweet' in comparison...

that's one thing that I miss when away from Thailand at work...an abundance and variety of veges...first thing when I get home is find watever is available and then get out the wok and stir fry with either chicken breast or locally made tofu...

the locally made tofu looks and tastes just like the stuff that you find in provincial markets in Vietnam...(here's tutsi cooking up a storm on his hotplate in his beach cabin on the spectacular north central coast...knockin' back the Vodka Hanoi and singin': 'yew ain't nothin' but a hound dog...')

Tutsi,

Chinese Kale when grown in full sun, can be bitter. The stronger the sun, the more bitter. I grow my own, organically, under a shade cloth and it is my favourite vegetable. Such a great flavour. I eat it nearly every day.

[zyphodb]

The peeled stalks of this in long slices are actually one of the ingredients of classic Pad Thai, along with Prawns & flat noodles, & its what I understand to be Thai kale...

Had you said it was an ingredient of classic ratnaa or pad siew you'd have been right. It's not an ingredient of pad Thai. The long strips in pad Thai are pickled radish or turnip.

Not the way my wife & lots of others do it...

[ableguy]

Next time that you see it point to it and ask them if it's Khana. I would guess that the answer is yes.

The Thais seem to shorten the names of vegetables. My wife would ask me to go to the market and buy some Phak Bung (swamp Cabbage) and ma-kheua (eggplant). I would always came back with the wrong thing. There are different types of Phak Bung and many types of ma-kheua ranging from small green pea shaped pods, ma-kheua phuang, to tomatoes, ma-kheus thaeht, with many varieties in between. Even Phak Chee which most think is coriander, but there are many types of phak chee, phak chee Lao is asian dill. You can even go to the market and get a Fuk!

Raunchy market, prices please.

[just_Elaine]

I think Thai kale is Chinese broccoli (gai-lan). The ones I get at the markets in Thailand are usually younger and more tender. There are many types of kale: lacinato, curly and Russian that I know of. People use it in salads or saute it. Kale is supposedly a very nutritious food. I like the taste of all these vegetables.. Not sure if I have seen kale at the stores... If so, it will most likely be the curly type which many people like in salads or to make smoothies/juice.

Oops. I forgot to say... In the USA, there is or was a big thing about kale and much talk about its high nutritious value. At farmers markets, one can get many varieties of kale = curly, Russian (purple and regular green) and Lacinato are the types that I've seen. Many people like the curly kale in salad or in smoothies, but I like them stir-fried or added to bean soups. I do not know if it is related to the Thai/Chinese kale or not although they all seem to have a slight bitterness.

[HeijoshinCool]

On 11/16/2015 at 7:43 AM, KevWaters said:

Cheers for the heads up.

I buy "kale" and "tipped kale" very often from Tops Daily and have only been rinsing it under the tap so far. I have no first hand experience of seeing Thai people use chemicals for farming. Better take precautions.

.

 

Had an empty "building lot" down the street from where I lived in CM, on which a Thai man grew this vegetable for extra income. One day, out for a stroll, I saw him mix and apply a pesticide.

 

Now, saying he "sprayed" his crop would be an understatement; it was more like flea-dipping a dog. I stood far away and found myself holding my breath, while he, in flip-flops, saturated the ground.

 

But, that is not the end of the story. It gets more interesting.This was not a young crop.

 

Two days later on another walk, I saw him loading his harvest for the trip to the fresh market.

 

Wash all you want. Add vinegar or salt or soap. Sandblast it if you like. The plant still takes in the poison along with the water it needs to live, deep inside, where nothing but your digestive process will extract it.

 

Having said that, I count it as one of my favorite vegetables, and, along with crispy pork—which is on the burner as I type—one of my favorite dishes.

[balo]

Anyone know where i can buy "the western version" of kale in Thailand ?

Do they grow them here or is the climate too hot ? 

 

[cooked]

5 hours ago, balo said:

Anyone know where i can buy "the western version" of kale in Thailand ?

Do they grow them here or is the climate too hot ? 

 

I very much doubt that you will find kale, to my mind it is a winter crop.

[stuartd1]

When I lived in Singapore I used to buy Baby Kai Lan a lot, taste almost like spring cabbage in the UK, but have had problems finding it here. Have recently found what they call "brussel sprouts" in the packed veg section in Tops. looks like about 10 small cabbages in a tray with a "My Choice" label. Not bad but tend to be a bit nibbled! Suppose that might mean no pesticides!?

[adammike]

50 minutes ago, stuartd1 said:

When I lived in Singapore I used to buy Baby Kai Lan a lot, taste almost like spring cabbage in the UK, but have had problems finding it here. Have recently found what they call "brussel sprouts" in the packed veg section in Tops. looks like about 10 small cabbages in a tray with a "My Choice" label. Not bad but tend to be a bit nibbled! Suppose that might mean no pesticides!?

They are cabbage sprouts they do look a bit tatty sometimes but good for stir fry.

[SiSePuede419]

Thai kale (Pak kha naa) in America can be found at Chinese restaurants in big cities.

 

I believe they call it "Chinese broccoli"

 

Also, Thai kale can be found on the menu of every quality Italian restaurant.

 

The Italians call it rapini or broccoli rabe.  See photo.

 

Usually a side dish for $6-8.

 

Both are slightly different than Thai broccoli but definitely cousins.

 

The trendy kale you're talking about is entirely different and is leafy and has a terrible taste, in my opinion.

 

If a chef can make kale taste good (A modern Indian restaurant in Saint Louis called "Tumeric" makes excellent kale fritters, for example), then that's a good chef.

 

You're welcome. ????

 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by SiSePuede419

[Jingthing]

I still don't think that Chinese broccoli (gai lan) and Thai kale are exactly the same thing. 

 

Italian rabe is DEFINITELY not the same thing. 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Jingthing

[SiSePuede419]

17 hours ago, Jingthing said:

I still don't think that Chinese broccoli (gai lan) and Thai kale are exactly the same thing. 

 

Italian rabe is DEFINITELY not the same thing. 

Yes it is. 

https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-broccoli-broccolini-broccoli-rabe-and-chinese-broccoli-227025

 

Too lazy to Google, but plenty of time to post on TVF.  Typical.

 

I've eaten *all three* last year.

 

If you read my statement I said Thai "kale" is a COUSIN to rapini.  Italian restaurants often serve brocollini and call it "rapini" because it's better tasting.

 

I've been to some of the best Italian restaurants in both California and New York.

 

You yourself admit you don't know the difference between leafy kale (trendy) and Pak kha naa/gai lan in your op.

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by SiSePuede419

[Jingthing]

4 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Yes it is. 

https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-broccoli-broccolini-broccoli-rabe-and-chinese-broccoli-227025

 

Too lazy to Google, but plenty of time to post on TVF.  Typical.

 

I've eaten *all three* last year.

 

If you read my statement I said Thai "kale" is a COUSIN to rapini.  Italian restaurants often serve brocollini and call it "rapini" because it's better tasting.

 

I've been to some of the best Italian restaurants in both California and New York.

 

You yourself admit you don't know the difference between leafy kale (trendy) and Pak kha naa/gai lan in your op.

 

As I said, rabe and Thai kale are NOT the same thing. 

Your link doesn't address the difference between Thai kale and Chinese broccoli which again I do not believe are the same thing.

Of course yes I understand that Thai kale and trendy western kale are definitely not the same thing. 

Like you I have eaten all of these different kinds of greens, especially Chinese broccoli, but as I've been living in Thailand for so long I missed the trendy kale boom. 

You can back off on the personal insults please.

We're talking about vegetables. No need to turn this into a food fight. 

[rice555]

Southern giant curled mustard bottom L.

Vates collards greens bottom R.

Dwarf blue Russian kale top. Hard to see.

rice555