The heart of a vegetable is the tender center, such as the hearts of Chinese cabbage, rape, and lettuce. Because the heart is very tender, dishes made with it are crisp and delicious. So how do you make delicious dishes with cabbage hearts? Whether stir-fried, served cold, or in soups, cabbage hearts can be prepared in various ways, offering a refreshing taste that clears the stomach and helps cut through greasy foods. Next, let's introduce how to cook delicious dishes using cabbage hearts!
How to Make Tasty, Heat-Clearing Chinese Cabbage Hearts
Ingredients Preparation
400g Chinese cabbage hearts. Salt, sugar, rice vinegar, Sichuan pepper, dried chili peppers, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and vegetable oil as needed.
Cooking Steps
1. Separate the cabbage hearts and wash them clean. Drain thoroughly, then slice them horizontally into long sections and vertically into thin strips. Sprinkle an appropriate amount of salt and let them sit for 10 minutes. Drain off the water, add sugar, rice vinegar, and MSG, then mix well.
2. Pour oil into a pan and heat until it reaches 50% hot, then add Sichuan pepper and dried chili peppers to fry until fragrant. Remove the pepper and chilies.
3. Pour the Sichuan pepper oil over the cabbage hearts and mix with salt before serving.
How to Make Delicious Chicken Oil-Flavored Cabbage Hearts
Ingredients Preparation
400g rape hearts, 100g ham, 30g cooked chicken oil, 20g lard. Chicken broth seasoning, salt, cornstarch, and chicken broth as needed.
Cooking Steps
1. Cut the top part of the rape hearts into an olive shape and the rest into diamond shapes. Chop the ham finely.
2. Heat a pan with oil, and when it reaches 50% hot, add the rape hearts and stir-fry until they turn bright green. Then remove and drain the oil.
3. Heat another pan with chicken broth, chicken broth seasoning, and salt. Add the rape hearts and bring to a boil. Then use high heat to reduce the sauce, remove the rape hearts, drain the broth, and place them on a plate.
4. Thicken the remaining broth with cornstarch and pour it over the rape hearts.
Special Recipe: How to Make Delicious Double Mushroom Cabbage Hearts
Ingredients Preparation
200g Chinese cabbage hearts, 200g rape hearts. 20g dried shiitake mushrooms, 50g fresh straw mushrooms. 40g peanut oil, 2g fine salt, 5g soy sauce, 15g sugar, 10g cooking wine, 5g MSG.
Cooking Steps
1. Wash the Chinese cabbage hearts and trim away the veins. Use a knife to shape the lumps into pointed ovals. Wash the rape hearts and also round off the lumps. Blanch both in boiling water to blanch them. Soak the shiitake mushrooms in water, rinse them after they are fully hydrated, and trim off the stems. Clean the straw mushrooms.
2. Heat a wok and add 30g of peanut oil. When it reaches 50% hot, add the Chinese cabbage hearts and rape hearts. Add fine salt, 10g of sugar, and 2g of MSG and stir-fry until cooked. Remove and set aside.
3. Heat a wok and add 10g of peanut oil. When it reaches 50% hot, add the straw mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms. Add a small amount of water, then soy sauce, sugar, and MSG, and simmer for a short time.
4. Place the Chinese cabbage hearts and rape hearts on either side of a fish plate. Place the straw mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms at each end of the plate, and pour the sauce from the stir-fried vegetables over the top.
Why Eat Cabbage Hearts
After learning how to cook delicious dishes with cabbage hearts, let's take a look at why we should eat cabbage hearts. Cabbage hearts refer to the bolting state of vegetables like Chinese cabbage, rape, and mustard greens. In these types of vegetables, the stems are concentrated at the base, with leaves packed together. Before they flower and produce seeds, they will send up flowering stalks from the base, and the leaves separate, with flower buds appearing on top. The nutritional value of the vegetables is highest during the bolting phase. Additionally, the hearts of the plants are the most tender parts, making them the most delicious.