Shanghai Style Pickled Cabbage
According to Woks of Life, Shanghai-Style Pickled Cabbage is often served complimentary in mainland restaurants. It’s a perfect palate-cleanser between courses of barbecued Chinese meats and would be at home with American BBQ as well (like maybe a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving). In fact, it reminds us quite a bit of sour slaw. Makes 16 appetizer servings.
Ingredients:
1 medium head green cabbage, about 2 lbs
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-size bits
¼ c Kosher salt
2 c water
1 c white sugar
½ t Kosher salt
1 c white (distilled, not rice) vinegar
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, smashed
fresh or dried chili peppers (optional)
Method: cut the cabbage according to your preferred method into bite-size pieces. (Woks of Life likes to hand-tear it into 3 inch squares but those were a bit floppy for our taste; we recommend grating or chopping into shreds). Mix with the carrots and salt in a large bowl and work in the salt thoroughly with your hands until all surfaces have been exposed. Let it cure in the refrigerator 1 to 1½ hours, until liquid has started to pool in the bottom of the bowl, but not so long the cabbage starts to wilt.
Meanwhile, heat the water, sugar and ½ t salt with the bay leaves until sugar is dissolved. Add vinegar and cool to room temperature. Rinse the cabbage and carrots in several changes of water to wash out salt and press dry with clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Mix in the dressing and add smashed garlic and peppers to taste. Cure in refrigerator for 24 hours, stirring from time to time. (It will throw off more liquid.) Serve cold in appetizer portions.
Oh this looks like a keeper!!! Can’t wait to try it! Hope you have a yummy Thanksgiving!
Thanks and same to you. We are going to do the usual spread but with a much smaller turkey (12 lbs) and 3 family members. Will share the holiday with a couple of distant relatives via Zoom calls.
You are on a roll with recipes! No rocket surgery techniques or products,
but things unfamilar, or kinda familiar to me. Which is good.
I make your sour slaw several times a year and will try the ss pickled cabbage too.
Similar to this curtido, which is a bit more pickled(?)
https://recipesdeluxe.wordpress.com/2015/06/04/curtido-salvadorean-cole-slaw/
The rest of your blog: Now I have to buy a new stove and a turkey!
Thanks! Confidentially, I think this might be better than any of my attempts at sour slaw and I am going to slip it into a meal with some Texans in the springtime and see what they think. Re curtido, we do have a recipe you can search on this site and it’s pretty good, similar to the link you provide which involves some curing, not just cabbage in vinegar.
It’s like déjà vu all over again. I’ll gives yours a shot too. Dueling curtidos.
https://burntmyfingers.com/2014/02/22/recipe-curtido-salvadorean-style-cole-slaw/
’14-’15 musta been a good year for curtido.
Every year is a good year for curtido, even 2020. With the miraculous properties of cabbage I would not be surprised if it is proven to fight off COVID. How many infections have we heard about coming out of El Salvador?