A cook’s gotta have a sense of humor. You slave over a dish for hours and it is damned with faint praise. Then you cobble something together in under five minutes and people go out of their way to tell you how good it is.
Where I live, stir-fried vegetable seasoned simply with soy sauce — often with a bit of vinegar — is referred to as adobo. Ginisa/guisado is probably the more apt term, but there you have it. Chinese-style stir-fried cabbage calls for black vinegar, made from rice and/or sorghum (I had the Narcissus brand, which the label says is made from polished glutinous rice). If you ask me, black vinegar is akin to balsamic — a worthy substitute.
The trick to this dish it to remove/discard the thicker ribs of the cabbage leaves for even cooking. You don’t even need a knife; just shred by hand into manageable pieces, then rinse and drain. To cook, drizzle a tablespoon of peanut or vegetable oil into a hot wok. Add a teaspoon of minced ginger and leave to sizzle for 30 seconds. Then throw in a clove’s worth of minced garlic and fry until approaching golden, which is when to add a teaspoon of black vinegar, a tablespoon of soy sauce, half a teaspoon each of sesame oil and honey (or sugar), and a teaspoon of water. Give the mixture a quick stir before adding the cabbage to the pan, then work those leaves so they are evenly coated/flavored. Cook for a minute, season to taste (if needed), and promptly remove to a serving bowl (or residual heat will render the leaves soggy).
That’s the barebones version of the dish. If you prefer it spicy, rehydrate some dried chilies in warm water, drain, chop up, and add in with the garlic. For a fragrant, lemony finish, cracked dry-roasted Sichuan peppper. In fact, I insist on Sichuan pepper, and like to sneak in a whole peppercorn or three for the unsuspecting or careless diner. Obviously my parents know to skirt these mouth-numbing bombs. So should you, now that you have read this far — maybe it will come in handy someday.
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