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Northern Chinese Sour Cabbage Stew With Glass Noodles

The Woks of Life

Review Ingredients

The mere mention of sour cabbage stew with glass noodles (酸菜炖粉条, suāncài dùn fěntiáo) would make any northerner start salivating. Many northerners pickle their own cabbage to make this dish, as well as other items like sour cabbage pork dumplings! In Northern China, this traditional noodle stew is often served in the cold weather months, but enthusiasm for it goes beyond that. It’s a dish that shows up at any happy family occasion. Imagine a big family feasting on a large pot of bubbling soup, with tangy sour cabbage, chewy cellophane noodles, and rich pork belly. Snow drifts outside the windows as hot steam rises above the hot broth. Multiple pairs of chopsticks fight for noodles, followed by the sounds of loud slurping. Everyone is too busy to talk, instead exchanging satisfied smiles between bites. That’s the scene I imagine whenever I have a pot of this stew bubbling on the stove.

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The Woks of Life

Local Ingredients and/or Products for the Recipe

Shaoxing wine is a type of rice wine from the Shaoxing region of China. In China and especially the Shaoxing region, this wine is sometimes consumed as a table wine. However, Shaoxing wine sold outside of China is usually brewed for cooking applications rather than consumed as a beverage.

Whether you’re buying the traditional version made from oysters or the vegetarian version made from mushrooms, oyster sauce provides umami flavor that really elevates the taste of any Chinese dish.

White Pepper (Ground)

White pepper is rarely used in Western cooking, but when it comes to Asian cooking, it’s used instead of black pepper. Freshly ground white pepper is always more fragrant than pre-ground white pepper, but pre-ground white pepper will do just fine in almost all cases. In certain applications, its powdery texture is preferred!

Soy Sauce (Light)

While soy sauce is very commonly used as a table condiment by both Asians and Westerners, you might be surprised to learn there are differences in taste, saltiness and color among soy sauce brands and soy sauces from different countries including Thailand, Japan, and China. Like anything else, everyone has their favorite brands. The key to identifying a good soy sauce is making sure it is naturally brewed. Otherwise, it may be a cheaper artificially-flavored or chemically formulated version. If you see a long list of chemicals and/or corn syrup and sweeteners as ingredients on the bottle, I recommend avoiding it! Pearl River Bridge brand soy sauce is a highly recommended brand of soy sauce by many cooks and Asian cookbooks.

Szechuan Peppercorns

Szechuan peppercorn is not hot and pungent as black pepper or chili pepper. It has a strong and unique aroma, slight lemony flavor and tingly numbness on lips and tongue. Unique aroma and numbing sensation both stimulates your smell and taste bud. The Sichuan Pepper are often used as a seasoning for roasted meats and poultry, cooking fished or other food. It can remove the fishy odor and increase appetite. Essential ingredient in Chinese Five Spice and many asian dishe Szechuan Peppercorns can be used whole or ground Into powder. Usually added at the last minute and can be toasted before use to bring out the full flavor. A must for Asian cooking, it is an essential ingredient in sichuan dishes

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