Pork, Napa & Glass Noodle Braise (Zhu Rou Bai Cai Dun Fen Tiao)
Dongbei winter warmth: pork, melted napa and glass noodles in one braising pot — the dish of long cold nights.
The story
In Northeast China this braise is winter itself: pork browned, napa melted down, glass noodles soaking up everything. It is the dish northern families put in the middle of the table and eat from all evening.
Ingredients (6 + pantry staples)
- Pork (shoulder or loin), sliced — 10 oz / 300 g
- Napa cabbage — 1/2 head, chunked
- Dried glass noodles (vermicelli) — 3 oz / 85 g
- Soy sauce — 2 tbsp
- Garlic — 3 cloves, sliced
- Ginger — 3 slices
Pantry staples used (don't count toward the 6): sugar (1 tsp), cooking oil. Not stocked yet? See the pantry page.
Steps
- Brown pork with garlic and ginger, 5 minutes.
- Napa in; fry 3 minutes until wilting. Soy, sugar and 1.5 cups / 350 ml water; simmer 10 minutes.
- Glass noodles in (they drink the broth); 5 minutes more, until everything is silky. Pepper to finish.
Swaps
Glass noodles are 🔶/✅ — most US supermarkets carry them in the Asian aisle. Add frozen tofu cubes for the full Dongbei treatment.
More 30-minute dishes
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The soup this whole site was built around: a whole chunk of pork and a daikon, half an hour, then celery and salt. That is the recipe.
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The Cantonese gold standard of "let the fish be fish" — steam 10 minutes, smother in hot oil and soy.
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The sweetest soup in the Chinese canon — corn does all the flavor work while you do nothing.