Beautifully charred napa cabbage paired with a rich, umami miso butter. Suitable decadence for the humble vegetable, I’d say.
Searing cabbage like a steak not only gives you incredible charred notes, but the intense heat locks up all those juices, keeping each leaf juicy and crunchy. It’s relatively simple, but made to impress.
The Chili Garlic Smashed Brussels Sprouts is another example of a dish where the humble vegetable takes center stage. As in this recipe, charring really helps the vegetable take on a new, powerful dimension of flavor.
Seared Napa Cabbage with Miso Butter
Course: DinnerCuisine: JapaneseDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes20
minutesBeautifully charred Napa cabbage paired with a rich, umami miso butter. Suitable decadence for the humble vegetable.
Ingredients
1 large 1 (700 g) Napa cabbage
vegetable oil, for searing
- Miso Butter Sauce
4 tablespoons 4 vegan butter, I used melt organic
3 cloves 3 garlic, finely minced
3 tablespoons 3 light-brown miso
4 tablespoons 4 mirin (or sake)
1/3 cup 1/3 (80 g) water
2 teaspoons 2 tamari soy sauce
- Toppings
1 sheet 1 nori (dried seaweed), toasted
1 tablespoon 1 toasted white sesame seeds
1 1 scallion, thinly chopped
Directions
- Prepare the Napa Cabbage: Start by washing the cabbage thoroughly. Note: Most of the dirt is between the outer leaves. I usually just peel them back slightly to wash, but you can also simply remove the few outermost leaves. Tie butcher’s twine around the cabbage to secure the leaves, spacing each knot about 5 cm (2 inches) away from each other. Then cut the cabbage into circular ‘steaks’ by slicing in the middle between each knot. For each cabbage ‘steak,’ secure the leaves across the diameter with 3-4 more strings. Note: make sure to use extra strings to secure the leaves (especially the ones in the center). This not only helps develop a more even sear, but makes sure the ‘steaks’ don’t fall apart when you try to flip it.
- Sear the Cabbage: Preheat the oven to 420 F (215 C). Make sure your kitchen’s ventilation is good here. Heat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Once it starts smoking, add about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and follow with the cabbage ‘steak.’ Note: each ‘steak’ will have a side with larger diameter due to the natural curvature of the cabbage. I usually sear the cabbage with the wide side down first, so the leaves won’t come apart when they slightly shrink from cooking. For the first side, you want to sear until it is so deeply charred that you’re afraid it is burnt, about 4-5 minutes. Carefully flip the cabbage and continue searing for about 2 minutes, then immediately transfer the skillet into the oven to roast for 5 minutes.
- Prepare the Miso Butter Sauce: While the cabbage is roasting, prepare this sauce. In a sauce-pan, melt vegan butter on medium heat and add minced garlic. Sauté the garlic until fragrant, and follow with miso, mirin, water, and tamari soy sauce. Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt — the sauce should taste overly salty by itself since the cabbage is not seasoned.
- Once cabbage is done, carefully remove butcher’s twines and you’ll find that it can open up just like a flower. Ladle the miso butter sauce all over, and garnish with toasted nori, toasted sesame seeds, and scallions. Enjoy immediately. P.S. this dish pairs well with a good (vegan) dry white wine (sauvignon blanc).
Notes
- There are lots of ways you can change up the flavor of this dish using a different sauce. Umami, citrusy, and spicy flavors all go well with seared cabbage.
This was delicious! Enjoyed by all. I did put a heavy object on top of the cabbage to help the searing along.
I’m about to make it for today’s dinner and immediately fell in love in calculating the servings part!
This is world class!!!
SO delicious. Timing is everything with this recipe. Definitely get your ingredients prepped beforehand. Since everything is done at a high heat you need to move quickly. I kept my cabbage in too long since I was busy prepping the sauce so my cabbage came out mushy. Even THEN the flavors were so on point and mind blowing. The sear with the umami flavor was so damn good. Can’t wait to make again with all my ingredients prepped!
This. Is. Fantastic.
Really great, thanks a lot!
Best, Jens
LOVED this! What a luxurious sauce. I only had red miso, so used only 2 T instead. Only made two “steaks,” so there was a lot of sauce.
I would make this again and again. Maybe even use this sauce for a basic Napa cabbage stir fry for a quicker weekday family meal. I especially loved pressing the sauce into my rice at the end.
Lovely! Thank you so much.
This was AMAZING! It was such a creative new way for me to try napa cabbage. Delicious, I’ll definitely be making it again!
I just made this tonight, and it was INCREDIBLE! Way easier than you think, and TONS of flavor!
Yum!
The flavor came through extremely well! The instructions were spot on – I used rolled up foil in place of the twine and it held up very well. I usually just stir fry napa cabbage but love this option to make it a main meal served with rice. Thank you for taking the time to share!
Just scrumptious & we added crispy shallots and jalapeño slices to boot. Do I wish I’d worked harder at the tying part? Yes. But at least I kept charring the parts that fell out.