If all vegetable dishes were as easy and tasted as good as this Chinese cabbage stir-fry, we’d all be a lot healthier. (Just a quick note before we go on: there is some meat involved in this dish, but feel free to leave it out if you’re vegetarian!)
Among Chinese cabbage recipes, this cabbage stir-fry is savory, tangy, and very quick to prepare. Plus, it’s CHEAP. Cabbage is so inexpensive, filling, and healthy, but people don’t always know how to prepare it in a way that actually tastes, well…good.
Well, the Chinese have found a way! This is one dish that Sarah and I would definitely agree on when we met up for lunches in Beijing. When she moved to China and was working in the Sanlitun area just down the road from our Beijing apartment, we’d have lunch and order this dish almost every time we saw it on the menu.
All you need is very high heat, a couple of dried chilies, and a few splashes of Chinese pantry staples to make all the difference. Just eating this cabbage dish over rice is a satisfying meal in and of itself!
So, in Chinese, the name of this dish can be translated as “hand-shredded cabbage.” Why hand-shred the cabbage? you might ask. I don’t know the real reason, but my guess is that the rough, haphazardly torn pieces of cabbage offer textural variety, and do a great job of soaking up more sauce and flavor. It’s truly one of our favorites, and it’s the perfect way to take that humble, everyday head of cabbage and turn it into something great.
Chinese Cabbage Stir-fry: Recipe Instructions
In a wok over high heat, add the oil. Sear the meat until caramelized. Add the garlic and dried red chilies, turn down the heat to medium, and stir-fry for a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
Add the Taiwanese cabbage, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water.
Turn up the heat to high, cover the lid and let the cabbage cook for 1-2 minutes.
Uncover the lid, and stir in the Chinese black vinegar, scallions, and salt to taste. The cabbage should be wilted, but still slightly crunchy and caramelized.
Serve your Cabbage Stir-Fry hot!
Chinese Shredded Cabbage Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 6 oz. pork belly (170g, pork loin, or chicken, thinly sliced)
- 5 cloves garlic (smashed and cut in half)
- 5 dried red chilies (deseeded and roughly chopped)
- 1 1/2 lb. cabbage (680g, hand-shredded into bite sized pieces, washed, and thoroughly dried)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
- 2 scallions (cut into 2-inch lengths)
Instructions
- In a wok over high heat, add the oil. Sear the meat until caramelized. Add the garlic and chili, turn down the heat to medium, and stir-fry for a minute, taking care not to burn the garlic.
- Add the cabbage, wine, soy sauce, sugar, and water. Turn up the heat to high, cover the lid and let the cabbage cook for 1-2 minutes. Uncover the lid, and stir in the black vinegar, scallions, and salt to taste. The cabbage should be wilted, but still slightly crunchy and caramelized. Serve hot!
Simple, fast and really good!
Adaptable as well. I added some sesame oil, different rice vinegar and actually, a tiny bit of fish sauce (but I am going to go get the right ingredients, this is what I had on hand)
Thank you!
I am so glad you enjoyed it :-)
I don’t usually leave a comment but this recipe was so good, just as you said. Excellent and easy. I got Chinese cabbage from my farm share today. Had no idea what to make and found this recipe. Thanks !
I am glad you found us, Lauren. Do try more of our recipes :-)
I tried this recipe and the fried cabbage turned out to be so delicious!!
So glad you enjoyed it, Irene.
Does the meat (chicken) need to be velveted first beforehand in this recipe?
Hi Jin, that’s a really good question. Since this recipe calls for pork belly, the answer is no, velveting is not necessary nor generally done for pork belly. You have a lot of fat on the pork belly and want to render some of it out so the cabbage cooks with the flavorful pork fat.
Made this wonderful cabbage dish again today for about the 15th time. It’s been a regular for us over the past 5 years. This is one of many of your recipes that I cook regularly, such as Chow Fun, Mapo Tofu, Dong Po Rou, Chicken Curry Chinese Takeout-style, and several more. We’ve had Chow Fun about 15 times also. It was only today that I looked up where I got this recipe, and then saw 9 others from you! Thank you much for these wonderful dishes. My wife thinks I’m some kind of chef :)
Hi Tom, so happy to hear you’re cooking with us regularly :)
When you say “cabbage”, what kind of cabbage?
Thanks,
-p-
Hi Peter, it’s better to use the type of cabbage I talked about in this post: https://thewoksoflife.com/stir-fried-cabbage-glass-noodles/.
This does not look like the kind of cabbage that is round green –is it some other type of cabbage used in picture ? (Napa, etc?)
It looks a lot like Taiwanese Cabbage which is similar to green cabbage, but seems just a little bit less dense and is an ever so sweeter flavor. It looks more flat than round.
This was one of my all-time favorite dishes when I lived in China, too! I made it tonight and it was DELICIOUS! Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Hi Candace, I love this dish also. Very happy to hear you can enjoy it at home now :)
can leftovers be frozen??? will you respond to me via my email address?
Sorry, Celeste, can’t really freeze the leftovers in this case.
I made this with Turkey mince instead of the pork. It was Yummo. Will definitely make again.
Nice job, Hans!