Snow pea
Snow peas are flat, crisp pea pods eaten whole before the peas inside grow. In the UK and Ireland they are called mangetout. Here is how to cook them.
Also called Mangetout, Snow peas, Chinese pea pod.
Snow peas are flat, bright green pea pods picked before the peas inside have grown, so you eat the whole pod. They are crisp, juicy and sweet, with a fresh, grassy taste. They cook in a minute or two and are used in stir-fries, salads, noodle dishes and as a side.
How to do it
- Trim them: snap off the stem end and pull it down along the straight edge to remove the tough string. Larger pods may have a string on both sides.
- To stir-fry, add them to a very hot wok for 1 to 2 minutes, until bright green.
- To blanch, drop them into boiling salted water for 30 to 60 seconds, then drain and cool them in ice water.
- For salads, slice them thinly on an angle, or cut into fine strips.
How to tell it is done
They should be bright green and crisp-tender: hot through, with a clear snap when you bite. If they are dull olive green and bend, they are overcooked.
How to use it
The names vary:
- Snow peas in the US, Canada and Australia.
- Mangetout in the UK and Ireland, from the French for "eat all".
- Chinese pea pods in some older American recipes and on menus.
Sugar snap peas are related but different: the pods are round and plump with full-size peas inside. They can be used the same way, and take a minute longer to cook. English or garden peas have tough pods, so only the peas are eaten.
Snow peas go well with garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, mint and lemon. In a mixed stir-fry, add them near the end, so they stay crisp.
How to store it
Keep them in a bag in the fridge drawer and use them within 3 to 5 days. They lose sweetness as they sit. Choose pods that are flat, firm and glossy, with no yellow patches.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the strings on. They are chewy and catch in your teeth.
- Cooking them too long. They lose their crunch and color in moments.
- Adding them at the start of a stir-fry with slower vegetables like carrots.
In recipes
You will see "100 g mangetout, trimmed", "2 cups snow peas, strings removed" and "snow peas, thinly sliced on the diagonal".
Recipes that use it
4 recipes from the sites we collect.
Related terms
- Stir-fryStir-frying cooks small, evenly cut pieces of food in a very hot wok with a little oil, stirring constantly so they sear and cook through in minutes.
- BlanchBlanching is cooking food for a short time in boiling water, then stopping the cooking in ice water. It sets color and loosens skins.
- Crisp-tenderCrisp-tender vegetables are cooked until hot and bright but still have some bite in the middle. Here are the times for common vegetables and how to test.
- TrimTo trim is to cut away the parts of an ingredient you do not want to cook or eat, such as excess fat, silverskin, tough stems, root ends or bruised spots.
- WokA wok is a deep, round-bottomed pan from China for stir-frying, steaming and deep-frying over high heat. Here is how to season and cook in one.
- JulienneJulienne is a knife cut that turns vegetables into thin, even matchsticks about 3 mm thick and 5 cm long, for salads, stir-fries and garnishes.