Chinese Cabbage Stir-Fry

This stir-fry is fast and easy to make- and easy on your wal­let too.  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. If you’re one of those peo­ple, give this recipe a try- this dish is savory, tangy, and spicy all at the same time, and sure to become a new favorite.

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 table­spoons oil (use a neu­tral fla­vored oil with a high smoke point, such as peanut)
• 6 oz. pork bel­ly (our rec­om­men­da­tion), pork loin, or chick­en, thin­ly sliced
• 5 cloves gar­lic, smashed and cut in half
• 5 dried red chilies, deseed­ed and very rough­ly chopped
• 1 ¹⁄₂ lb. cab­bage, hand-shred­ded into bite sized pieces, washed, and thor­ough­ly dried (in a sal­ad spin­ner, if you have it, or with a kitchen towel)
• 2 tea­spoons Shaox­ing wine (紹興酒)
• 1 table­spoon soy sauce
• ¹⁄₂ tea­spoon sug­ar (I rec­om­mend brown sug­ar for more depth of flavor)
• 1 table­spoon water
• ¹⁄₂ tea­spoon Chi­nese black vine­gar (Zhen­jiang or Chinkiang vine­gar, 镇江香醋)
• 2 scal­lions, cut into 2‑inch lengths

Prepa­ra­tion:

1. 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.
2. 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 dark vine­gar, scal­lions, and salt to taste. The cab­bage should be wilt­ed, but still slight­ly crunchy and caramelized. Serve hot with steamed rice.