Kai-lan

For the television show, see Ni Hao, Kai-lan.

Kai-lan
Kai-lan
Species	Brassica oleracea
Cultivar group	Alboglabra Group
Origin	unknown
Cultivar group members	unknown

Kai-lan
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	芥蘭
Simplified Chinese	芥兰
Literal meaning	"mustard orchid"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin gàilán, jièlán Wu Romanization kei lei ([ge.le]) Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization gaai3 laan4*2 Southern Min Hokkien POJ keh-nâ
Burmese name
Burmese	ကိုက္လန္
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabet	cải làn or cải rổ
Thai name
Thai	ผักคะน้า (phak khana)

Kai-lan (also written as gai-lan) is the Cantonese name for a vegetable that is also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale. It is a leaf vegetable featuring thick, flat, glossy blue-green leaves with thick stems and a small number of tiny flower heads similar to those of broccoli. Broccoli and kai-lan belong to the same species Brassica oleracea, but kai-lan is in the group alboglabra [Latin albus+glabrus white and hairless]. Its flavor is very similar to that of broccoli, but slightly more bitter. It is also noticeably stronger. Broccolini is a hybrid between broccoli and kai-lan, produced by Mann Packing Company, Inc.

Kai-lan is eaten widely in Chinese cuisine, Common preparations include kai-lan stir-fried with ginger and garlic, and boiled or steamed and served with oyster sauce. It is also common in Vietnamese cuisine, Myanmar (as ကိုက္လန္) and Thai cuisine.

Kai-lan can be sown in late summer for early-winter harvesting. Seedlings planted in autumn will last all winter.

Gallery

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  Kai-lan

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  Baby kai-lan served Cantonese style

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  Phak khana mu krop: Thai style fried Chinese broccoli with crispy pork

See also

• Choy sum
• Bok choy
• Kale
• Rapeseed
• Rapini