Authentic Taiwanese Cabbage Stew

Last Updated on January 18, 2024

Taiwanese Cabbage Stew (白菜滷) is probably one of the most underrated Taiwanese foods. It’s made with napa cabbage. This is a simple, plain dish with no fancy ingredients.

I’ve tried plenty of napa cabbage recipes at home. I would say this Taiwanese Cabbage Stew is indeed a very humble dish that is hiding in the streets, if you have ever tried it, I think you would totally agree with me.

Taiwanese Cabbage Stew

The Chinese cabbage in this dish is so Tender and naturally sweet, paired with Shiitake mushroom, the strong, earthy, and umami flavor.

The Tofu Skin and Wood Ear mushroom give this cabbage stew some chewy and crunchy texture. That Carrot plays a big role in giving this dish some contrasting color.

Taiwanese Cabbage Stew goes so well with steamed rice even noodles.

Every time I go back to my hometown to visit my family, I’ll never forget to spare some time to go to a restaurant, specifically order this dish and enjoy it.

Since I moved to Australia, I started my experiments on making Authentic Taiwanese food recipes, and this Vegan Taiwanese Cabbage Stew recipe is the best by far!

Here I’m going to share with you!

Vegan Napa Cabbage Recipes

In Mandarin, Chinese cabbage is known as dàbáicài (大白菜), literally means “big white vegetable.”

In North America, is known as Napa Cabbage, in the U.K., this vegetable is known as Chinese leaf, Peking cabbage, or winter cabbage, in Australia and New Zealand as wong bok or won bok.

Wombok is also used in Australia. Another name used in English is petsai or pe-tsai.

Here, because I don’t wanna cause confusion, I just call it Chinese Cabbage.

Raw Chinese cabbage has a thin, crisp texture and a mild taste, and when cooked, it softens and gets sweeter.

The Ingredients for Taiwanese Cabbage Stew

The Seasonings

Preparation for the dried ingredients

• Napa Cabbage– The taste and texture of Napa cabbage is the key feature of this dish, so, unfortunately, it cannot be replaced by normal cabbages.

• Carrot- peeled and cut into thick slices.

• Ginger– Fresh ginger peeled and cut into Julienne (Matchsticks), it cannot be replaced by other ingredients ( No ginger powder or ginger paste).

• Shiitake Mushroom – Dried Shiitake mushrooms only! Rehydrated in hot water for 20 minutes before cooking, also, we need the mushroom soaking liquid for the sauce. They’re packed with umami thanks to the amino acid glutamate. When cooked, shiitake caps have a velvety, meaty texture. If you don’t like the tough texture of the stalks, you can simply remove them by cutting them off.

• Wood Ear Mushroom– Soak in hot water for 20 minutes before cooking. They are known for their chewy-crunchy texture, but almost flavorless taste. Often used in saucy dishes, the mushrooms will take on flavors from other ingredients when cooked and add texture to the dish.

• Tofu Skin– Tofu skin, also called Yuba, dried beancurd, or soybean skin. It has its own distinct flavor like tofu and chewy texture. Rehydrated in hot water for a couple of hours. If you’re in a hurry, you can simply boil them in a pot to reduce the waiting time or just buy fresh tofu skin.

• Sesame Oil– In this dish, sesame oil is gonna be used as cooking oil. (P.S. Sesame oil has a high smoking point)

• Light Soy Sauce and Vegan Oyster sauce– Good sauces will bring out good results. L.K.K. is the best so far.

• Water– As braising liquid, you can use vegetable stock if you like.

• Ground White Pepper: Essential in this dish

• Corn Starch: Use cornstarch slurry to thicken the sauce (The ratio for corn starch and water is 1:2 ).

Pre-cook Cabbage

1. Cut Chinese Cabbage vertically into big chunks.
2. Boil a pot of water, and add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. (Salt helps to break down the fiber of Chinese cabbage)
3. Cook until the Chinese cabbage softens.
4. Take it out and set it aside.
5. Chopping the other ingredients.

How to make Taiwan Cabbage Stew

1. Heat sesame oil in a heavy-based pot on medium-low heat.
2. Once the sesame oil starts sizzling, add ginger, carrot, and Shiitake mushrooms in, saute for 5 minutes until the aroma comes out.
3. Add cooked Chinese cabbage to the pot.
4. Add mushroom-soaking liquid and water.
5. Add seasonings, light soy sauce, vegan oyster sauce, and ground white pepper.
6. Add wood ear mushroom and tofu skin.
7. Put the lid on, and let it simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.
8. After 30 minutes, add the cornstarch slurry to slightly thicken the sauce.

Hope you enjoy this Napa cabbage recipe!

Other Dinner recipes you may like:

• Best Marinated Tofu
• Pad Pak Thai
• Singapore Noodles
• Sha Cha Glass Noodles in under 10 minutes
• Super easy five spice Tempeh popcorn with basil
• Vegan Curried Tofu Fried rice- one wok in under 15 minutes!
• Yaki Udon
• Vegetable Yakisoba
• King Oyster Mushroom Stir Fry

More Side Dishes Recipes

Best Three Bean Salad Recipe

Easy Marinated Garbanzo Beans Recipe

Korean Cabbage Steaks in Oven

Asian Green Bean Recipe (Sautéed Chinese String Beans)

Authentic Taiwanese Cabbage Stew

I would say this Taiwanese Cabbage Stew indeed is just a very humble dish that is hiding in the streets, if you have ever tried it, I think you would totally agree with me. 

5 from 25 votes

Print Rate

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 4

Calories: 83kcal

Author: SHU-CHUN

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

• ▢ ½ pc large Napa Cabbage approx. 750g (Note 1)
• ▢ 1 inch ginger 30g, Note 2
• ▢ 1 pc small carrot 120g
• ▢ 10 pc dried shiitake mushrooms approx. 25g (Note 3)
• ▢ ½ pc dried wood ear mushrooms 7g (Note 3)
• ▢ 2 oz dried tofu skin (yuba) 50g (Note 4)
• ▢ 3 tbsp sesame Oil 45ml, as cooking oil
• ▢ 2 tbsp light soy sauce 30nl
• ▢ 2 tbsp vegan oyster sauce 30ml
• ▢ ¼ tsp ground white pepper
• ▢ 2 cup water 480ml
• ▢ 1 tbsp cornstarch for cornslurry
• ▢ 2 tbsp water for cornslurry
• ▢ Salt to taste

Instructions

• ▢
  Rehydrated Shiitake mushrooms, Yuba( tofu skin), and wood ear mushrooms in hot water (Check note 3 and 4 for instructions) Meanwhile, cut Chinese Cabbage vertically into big chunks.
• ▢
  Boil a pot of water, add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. (Salt helps to break down the fiber of Chinese cabbage)
• ▢
  Cook until the Chinese cabbage softens.
• ▢
  Take it out and set it aside.
• ▢
  Chopping the other ingredients.
• ▢
  Heat up sesame oil in a heavy-based pot on medium-low heat.
• ▢
  Once the sesame oil starts sizzling, add ginger, carrot, and Shiitake mushrooms in, saute’ about 5 minutes until aroma comes out.
• ▢
  Add cooked Napa cabbage into the pot.
• ▢
  Add mushroom-soaking liquid and water.
• ▢
  Add seasonings, light soy sauce, vegan oyster sauce, and ground white pepper.
• ▢
  Add wood ear mushrooms and tofu skin.
• ▢
  Put the lid on, let it simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.
• ▢
  After 30 minutes, add corn slurry and stirring to slightly thicken the sauce. Serve with rice or noodles, enjoy!

Video

Notes

• Note 1: It cannot be replaced by normal cabbages.
• Note 2: Fresh ginger only, no paste or powder.
• Note 3: Dried Shiitake mushroom only as we want to reserve the soaking liquid for our quick stock! P.S. They need to be rehydrated in hot water for 20 minutes before cooking. For wood ear mushrooms, they only take less than 10 minutes in hot water to rehydrate.
• Note 4: Dried tofu skin needs to be hydrated in hot water for a couple of hours. If you’re in a hurry, you can simply add some vinegar or baking soda to the boiling water to reduce the waiting time. Or you can just buy fresh tofu skin.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 83kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 972mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g

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