This is a popular dish of Beijing cuisine, which in Chinese is called 腿茸奶油津白.
When preparing this at home, I often apply my own preference. What I mean is to cook and flavor the cabbage predominately with ham and to coat it lightly with a creamy sauce which at the same time should not over-power the tastes of others. As such, I use no chicken stock, butter, and lard. Instead, I toast, stir-fry and then simmer the ham in the sauce to release its flavor. This might be a less oil-laden version however I find it equally flavorful.
This recipe needs only a basic technique of stir-frying vegetables. Having combined the cabbage with the ham, the seasoning and the sauce at the right time, I would say there is nothing complicated.
However, be honest, I also love to order this dish when dinning out. It is usually available at restaurants serving Beijing or Shanghai or even Sichuan cuisine, places like those I mentioned about their pork dumplings (Xia Long Bao小籠包).
- Ingredients
- 400g Chinese cabbage
- 100 ml fresh milk
- 2 tsp finely chopped ham (I use Jin Hwa ham bought from a specialty store. If not, use any dry-cured Chinese ham which can be found in vacuum packs in groceries and some supermarkets.)
- 1 tsp salt
- 7-8 slices of ginger
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil for stir frying
- Thickening
- 1 tsp plain flour
- 1 tbsp water
Method
Rinse cabbage, cut it lengthwise into chunks of about 6 cm in length and 2 cm in width.
To prepare the ham, rinse, pat dry, and cut it into thin slices. Then heat them in a toaster under low heat for about 4 to 5 minutes or until fragrant. Let cool a while, finely chop them. The sliced ham is relatively easier to chop than it is just out from the fridge.
Heat wok over high heat. Add 1 table spoon of oil, distribute it halfway over the sides. As soon as the oil starts to smoke lightly, put in ginger slices. With a turner, briefly stir them in oil for a couple of seconds. In this step, from heating the wok to sautéing the ginger, actually is a Chinese way of cooking for stir-frying vegetables.
Pour in cabbage chunks. Keep stirring and flipping the vegetable. In about one minute, the cabbage shall be softened a bit and start to exude water. If not, add about 1 table spoon of water. Cover lid and turn to medium heat to simmer the cabbage for about a minute. Remove lid, add salt, give a few more flips and stirs to mix it well with the cabbage. As salt is added, more water will be exuded, so act fast for the stirring. Dish up, discard water and ginger.
Add the remaining half table spoon of oil in wok. Toss in half of the chopped ham, sauté it briefly, pour in fresh milk. Over low to medium heat, bring to a boil. Return the cooked cabbage to wok, simmer for about a minute. Stir well the thickening and mix it into the sauce. As soon as the cream boils up again and thickened, remove from heat (check the taste, as the saltiness from ham may vary). Dish up cabbage and sauce, garnish with remaining ham. Serve hot and enjoy.
- Category: Featured . Pork . Vegetable .
- 29 comments
To get immediate updates and new recipes from my blog, you may also SUBSCRIBE them via RSS feeds. See you there.
i have never tried this Beijing cuisine before. you’ve replicated it beautifully! it looks really light and refreshing, despite the cream sauce!
My mom used to make this for me growing up, but I never asked her for the recipe. Thanks for sharing it!
I never had this when I was in Beijing or Shanghai! Must try and make it at home.
I have never tried this homecooked, but tend to have it when dining out at Shanghainese or Beijingese places. This looks like a healthy, easy version to replicate at home so thank you!
This looks interesting, I bet its good!
love the sight of the cabbage soaked in the creamy sauce 🙂
I had no idea that there was a Chinese dish like this. You don’t see cream sauces too often in most Chinese dishes. But I bet the sauce would be a wonderful compliment to that sweet, smoky ham. Can’t wait to try this.
I love Chinese Cabbage. I cook it very often. I love the creamy sauce too. This is really good poured over rice or noodles….mmm
This looks wonderful, you did a great job!
*kisses* HH
Hi, just stumbled into your blog. I had never tried this Chinese cabbage in cream sauce before looks delicious. I’ll bookmark this if you don’t mind. I’ll be back for more. Thanks!
@Krissy@The Food Addicts, You are right, I even use low-fat milk.
@gaga, My pleasure.
@penny aka jeroxie, If not Beijing, or Shanghai, you may try this in H.K. And of course, cooking it at home is also enjoyable.
@mademoiselle délicieuse, Enjoy your lighter version at home, and heavier ones when dinning out.
@Valen, Thanks.
@noobcook, Thanks.
@Carolyn Jung, Right, so far as know, it is not a common practice for Chinese cuisine to add milk or cream. I bet it will give you a nice surprise.
@Mary Moh, Looks like we have one more liking in common.
@Heavenly Housewife, *Get them*, thanks with hugs*
@anncoo, Welcome, let me hear from you soon.
was browsing through blog sites and found your blog! it looks amazing!!! will definitely try out the recipe above!!!
One of my favorite is cabbage. I have not tried this recipe from Beijing and would gladly start trying with this one. Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipe and your photos!
This is one of my fav dishes to order in Chinese restaurants in Tokyo, but yours looks so beautiful! It’s very interesting to know milk is used for Chinese cuisine 🙂 Delish!!
Lovely as usual….have a great Easter break!
It really looks creamy and delicious. But can I use bacon instead of ham? Thanks for this recipe. 🙂
@… Thanks and hope you will share with us your experience.
@the lacquer spoon, Thanks and I shall be happy to share more on Chinese cuisine.
@Kitchen Butterfly, U2!
@kathy, As you are aware, bacon and ham both release meat flavors to the sauce. The Jin Hwa ham I used however give the dish a Chinese touch. Taking an analogy, it is more or less like using soy sauce for Chinese dishes while fish sauce for Thai. Glad that you clarify and thanks for your kind comments.
HK cuisine always keeps coming up with revolutionary Chinese dishes.
Wow, I love this dish…it sure adds a lot of flavor to the Chinese cabbage 🙂
Hi, I found your blog when I was looking for a recipe for steamed turnip cake and i just had to tell you it turned out beautifully! so thank you:)
I’ve never had this dish before. I like the creaminess to it as I love creamy sauce. This is definitely a good vegie dish for my little girls.
When I visited HK a few years ago some of my relatives took me to a Peking restaurant and they served this. I loved it so much and I have never seen since my return to Sydney. Thank you for sharing this recipe. My partner and I will be very excited to try this one out. Thanks again.
This is a good recipe, thank you! I recommend using jamon iberico rather than standard ham to make it even better. I get my Spanish ham from http://buyjamon.com
Amy@cookbook maniac, there are plenty of Chinese restaurants in Sydney that have this dish. I had it today at Kensington Peking Restaurant in Anzac Parade. Yum.
That said, it does seem unusual for a Chinese dish to have a cream sauce. Does anyone know if this is a traditional Chinese dish? It tasted very European and I was wondering if it was a colonial adaptation.
@Timmy,
I’m also interested in knowing if there is any adaptation, thanks for putting forward this.
Hello! This post could not be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate!
He always kept chatting about this. I will forward this post
to him. Fairly certain he will have a good read. Thank you for
sharing!
Usually I don’t read article on blogs, but I wish to say that this
write-up very pressured me to take a look at and do
it! Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thank you, quite nice article.
I am sure this post has touched all the internet visitors,
its really really pleasant piece of writing on building
up new weblog.
Compare free internet moving quotes and choose the best full service moving companies based on services
& price. While this move has caused consternation among employees unable to
cope with the enormous performance expectations, and who call the company ‘Taco
Hell’ the fact remains that such an initiative has helped
the company and effect a remarkable turnabout in the last
couple of years. This could help in simplifying the moving process and keep your company so much cash
in order to stop unnecessary financial waste.