How One Chinese Condiment Makes Cabbage Pop With Spicy, Savory Flavor

Cabbage is an excellent veggie to keep around for all of your vast and varied easy weeknight dinners. It can last much longer in the refrigerator than some of your more rapidly ruined leafy greens, it's just as great roasted, braised, or sauteed, and it's an excellent canvas for all manner of dynamic flavor enhancements. Exploring different types of cabbage opens up endless quick meal possibilities — and the lightly spiced crunch of chili crisp is just the thing to enliven your next preparation.

Chili crisp is typically a combination of the titular chiles and bits of ingredients like onions, soybeans, and peanuts, all densely suspended in oil with a smattering of seasonings. Although you can use a small enough amount on your cabbage to make most kinds seem mild, heat tolerance is always part of the conversation when chili crisp enters the chat. Its perceived prickliness can vary from jar to jar as much as it does from palate to palate. The popular Lao Gan Ma variety that I always keep handy does not strike me as particularly hot, but it might bring a tear to another taster's eye. 

Some other chili crisps or chili crunches — the terms are often used interchangeably — will be more garlic-forward, while others will pack more salinity than anything else. It may require some delicious trial and error, but there is probably an option in our store-bought chili crisp ranking that appeals to you. Even those with few primary notes in common will generally pack an umami punch like little else. And whichever ingredient is most pronounced in your chosen brand, it's a vibrant condiment you'll keep adding to your cabbage again and again.

You can make cabbage with chili crisp in all kinds of ways or even simply add the stuff as you would any other condiment once everything is plated, but it's particularly nice when shredded and tossed together in a pan on the stovetop. You'll slice and wash the cabbage as you normally would, making sure to pat it completely dry to help prevent steaming. You'll probably want to keep your other seasonings to a minimum, particularly salt, as chili crisp can be quite sodium-forward, but a bit of ground Sichuan peppercorn is nice for an extra kick and that inimitable málà sensation. Taste your chosen chili crisp first, of course, to determine what extras it can or cannot accommodate.

Depending on the variety, the oil in a jar of chili crisp may not be sufficient for cooking, so you may still need a neutral cooking fat to slick the bottom of a large skillet over medium heat before adding the cabbage. Once it starts to soften after a couple of minutes, stir in a splash of liquid, such as unsalted chicken stock, to prevent sticking and maintain tenderness. Add a few tablespoons of the chili crisp at the same time to help it disperse and distribute more evenly throughout the mixture, increasing the amount to taste. It'll all finish in just a few more minutes with a depth of flavor that tastes like you factored in far more ingredients than you actually did.