The Japanese Ingredient That Deserves A Place In Your Cabbage Dishes

One can make pretty convincingly tasty cabbage with little more than a neutral oil, a smattering of everyday seasonings, and maybe a bit of cooking liquid tossed together on the stovetop. You just might not want to have it like that everyday. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make cabbage that help keep the reliable, leafy green more dynamic. You could even mix and match methods and ingredients to a nearly infinite cabbage preparations. And a bit of miso paste should have a permanent spot in your cabbage rotation.

You're likely to see white, yellow, and red miso varieties at a nicely stocked grocery store or supermarket. Each of these three varieties of miso paste is made with fermented soybeans and increases in intensity with every hue. Each is an excellent source of umami, typically also with plenty of salinity. Should you come across a cabbage recipe that calls for a particular shade, use it. Otherwise, mild, somewhat sweet white miso is a terrific cabbage companion to mellow the edge off the occasionally bitter veggie without overpowering it if you're taking more of a back-of-the-envelope approach. That, plus the same old neutral oil, seasonings, and somewhat reconfigured cooking liquid will give new flavor to an otherwise familiar dish.

Miso has just the consistency you'd expect: paste. Try to plop a dollop onto anything, and it'll just sit there without any finesse. So you'll need to whisk it with other ingredients to thin it out for more effective distribution in that go-to stovetop cabbage preparation. This needn't be much more than an equal part of something like soy sauce. Just remember how salty the miso is likely to be, and try to use a lower sodium soy sauce to balance it out. Be careful of any salt you add on top as well. A similar dilution principle applies whether you're braising, grilling, or oven-roasting the cabbage.

Once you've combined a tablespoon or so of miso with the same amount of sauce, you can simply saute your shredded cabbage however you're used to until it gets a bit of color around the edges. The first time you try cooking it with this ingredient, consider leaving out any of the particularly assertive spices that you may have otherwise used so as to give the miso a chance to shine. You can decide what you'll love added back in once you get a feel for how the miso performs with cabbage. Some minced garlic added closer to the end of your cook time so it doesn't burn is a nice start, as is a smattering of sesame seeds. Stir the miso blend in last just to warm it all together, and enjoy what's likely to become your new favorite cabbage recipe.