Napa cabbage with mayo, soy, and black pepper

February 11, 2007 at 7:45 am (B_minus (2.5 stars), Cruciferous rich, Quick weeknight recipe, Salads, Vegetable dishes, Website / blog)

I found this recipe on the something in season blog a long time ago, but never got around to making it. I bought a massive head of napa yesterday so decided to try it for dinner with leftover tamale pie.

Ingredients:
· 1 small Napa cabbage (or about 4 cups of a larger Napa cabbage) chopped horizontally from the top at 1 ½ inch intervals.
· 1 tablespoon mayonnaise (preferably Spectrum organic)
· 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce (preferably Eden low-sodium tamari)
· ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
1. Steam the cabbage for about 10-15 minutes until the green part has turned translucent. The outside will be soft, but the center of the stems will retain a nice crunch. Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined and drizzle onto the cabbage

My Notes:

After 10 minutes there was no crunch left to my cabbage at all. It was overcooked and sloppy. Nonetheless I withheld my misgivings and threw it in a bowl with the mayo and soy. I didn’t realize how wet the cabbage was though–the bowl immediately was full of water, and the dressing was extremely watered down. The cabbage black pepper combo is always one of my favorites, but the mayo flavor actually turned me off. Maybe if I made it again I would use soy mayo–and steam the cabbage for just 3 minutes, and drain it well before adding it to the sauce.

Derek said it wasn’t very good, but did finish off his whole plateful. He especially liked the soy sauce. I guess both of us like cabbage enough to eat even overcooked soggy cabbage.

This made two large side servings I would say–maybe three or four for non-cabbage lovers.

Rating: C

I had more cabbage so I tried a raw version of this recipe:

Ingredients:

. 3 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
· 8 cups of sliced Napa cabbage
. 1/2 jalepeno, minced (with seeds)
· 1 tablespoon organic mayonnaise
· 1 tablespoon soy sauce
· ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I chopped the cabbage, mixed the dressing, then tossed it. It made about 4 servings of 2 cups each. I really enjoyed it (I ate like 4 cups of it!). I was still a bit uncomfortable with the mayo taste though–if I make this again I’m going to try some other type of fat. But the basic recipe was quite good. A little spicy from the jalepeno, very vinegar-y, and nice and salty and peppery. I served it with barbecued tempeh and mashed rutabaga, and they all went together very well.

Rating: B
Derek: B