Asian Style Garlic Stir-Fried Purple Sprouting Broccoli Recipe

Just a few Purple sprouting broccoli plants will provide a substantial yield of tender tasty  stems.  The question now, is how will you cook and eat yours?  Broccoli in our household is treated in the same manner as any other Asian green. It is simply stir-fried in the wok, it is never boiled or steamed.

Its Time to Harvest the Purple Sprouting Broccoli! (Part 2)

Harvesting shoots of Purple Sprouting Broccoli

With great patience comes great rewards - at long last, the purple sprouting broccoli is ready to be harvested!  When I first arrived in the UK, I grew this as a kind of "Kai Lan" (Chinese Broccoli) substitute, because I love Kai Lan, but couldn't seem to find any locally.

Growing Purple Sprouting Broccoli - Is it worth the wait? (Part 1)

Ready to Harvest Purple Sprouting Broccoli

One of the first vegetables I ever grew was this Purple Sprouting Broccoli.  The seed packet had said Sowing: April - May, Harvest: March-April, and I had interpreted it to mean that it only took one month from sowing to harvesting.  Oh! How wrong I was! Four weeks after sowing the seeds, I was very surprised to see only small seedlings and no sprouting anything in sight.  I quickly learnt (after some googling), that it actually meant that it would take a whole year before I could harvest anything, and by that stage, I had already sowed lots of seeds!!