Seasoned Steamed Cabbage

Tokyo Style Ramen with Seasoned Steamed Cabbage (front-center)

Here comes the second post in the Tokyo Style Ramen series! In our cooking class with Chef Shinya, we learned how to make a simple Seasoned Steamed Cabbage used as a topping for the bowl of ramen. Since then we have also occasionally made this as an easy side dish. It comes together in less than 10 minutes and the Taiwan cabbage has a wonderful natural sweetness.

Original recipe from: Chef Shinya Asami (Cozymeal, Facebook)

Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g Cabbage, cut ⅜" wide (preferably Taiwanese Flat, or Savoy or other heirloom type)
• pinch of sea salt
• ¼-⅓ tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp chili oil (Rayu), or to taste

Directions

1. Prepare a vegetable steamer. Cut cabbage and steam for 1 minute, gently toss cabbage and check texture, then steam 1 more minute (more or less) depending on texture. Target texture is steamed with a little crunchiness remaining.
2. Transfer cabbage to a bowl and add a small pinch of sea salt, soy sauce, and chili oil to taste. Toss gently to incorporate and let sit for 2 to 3 minutes.

Notes

• Original recipe calls for weighing cabbage and adding 1.3% to 1.5% sea salt by weight. For example, if you had 100g of cabbage you would add around 1.5g of sea salt. For the amount of cabbage used in the full recipe, a small pinch of sea salt is how we measure. The soy sauce will also add saltiness and ramen broth tends to be well seasoned, so don't go overboard on the salt!
• Tawainese Flat cabbage looks very similar to a regular green cabbage but is a flatter in shape and has a sweeter flavor.
• We typically use Yamasa Low/Less Sodium soy sauce for our day to day cooking. It works well both in cooked dishes and for raw applications such as seasoning this cabbage or in a dumpling dipping sauce.
• While this cabbage is not overly spicy (in our opinion), if you are sensitive to spicy foods, start with a small drizzle (perhaps ¼ tsp) of the Rayu, taste, and add more if desired.