Vinegar Cabbage

Storing and Planning Ahead

Best immediately. Refrigerated 1 day and eaten cold.

How to Make Vinegar Cabbage

Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.

1. Tear the cabbage into rough pieces with your hands, discarding the thickest core. Shake it dry.

   Mark done

2. Heat the wok until it smokes, then add the oil.

   Mark done

3. Add the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorns and toast 20 seconds, until fragrant.

   Mark done

4. Add the garlic and ginger for 15 seconds.

   Mark done

5. Add the cabbage all at once and toss hard over maximum heat 3 minutes, until the edges are charred in places and the stems still snap.

   Mark done

6. Add the soy sauce, sugar and salt and toss 30 seconds more.

   Mark done

7. Take the wok off the heat, add the vinegar and sesame oil, toss once and serve immediately.

   Mark done

Something wrong or unclear in this recipe? Report a problem with this recipe.

Tips for Success

• Tear it, do not shred it. Ragged edges hold the dressing.
• Maximum heat and keep it moving. It should char in places.
• Vinegar off the heat, or the aroma goes.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Tear the cabbage into rough pieces instead of shredding it. Torn edges are ragged and porous and take up the vinegar and oil, while knife-cut edges are sealed and smooth and the dressing runs off — the same principle as the smashed cucumber. Add the vinegar at the very end, off the heat: Chinkiang vinegar is aromatic rather than merely sour and most of that aroma boils away within seconds in a hot wok.

Good Alongside

Steamed rice · Braised pork · A cold beer

Changing the Recipe

• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the red chillies. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Nutrition per Serving

Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.

Your notes on this recipe

Cooked this? Keep a note for next time

Your own rating out of 5

5 stars★ 4 stars★ 3 stars★ 2 stars★ 1 star★

Your note

Save note

Private to you: notes and ratings are saved in this browser only, are never sent anywhere, and other readers cannot see them.