These Japanese cabbage rolls are a flavorful and easy to make meal. Made by wrapping ginger and pork filling in savoy cabbage and steamed in a chicken broth with lemongrass. This is a great meal for the whole family or served as an appetizer.
This is one of those recipes that can go from an appetizer to a main course easily and they taste great. These cabbage rolls are easy to make and are a nice healthy dish. While many cabbage, rolls are cooked in tomato-based sauces this one is made in a chicken broth with sake. This gives the rolls a unique flavor and the sauce is light and flavorful and complements the cabbage rolls wonderfully.
Table of Contents
In this recipe
There are quite a few ingredients in this recipe however everything should be pretty easy to find. The lemongrass may be the one ingredient that you might have a little bit of difficulty with. However, it is well worth trying to get ahold of it.
Cabbage: savoy cabbage is my go-to for this recipe as the texture of the leaves looks great as well as they hold the broth and sesame oil as well.
Lemongrass: adds a nice lemon flavor to the broth. If you cannot get a hold of any then a few small slices of ginger work as well.
Ground pork: this will be the base of the filling however you can also use a combination of beef and pork.
Chives: these are truly only used for decoration because I like the look of tying the rolls with the chives.
How do I remove the cabbage leaves?
There are a couple of ways to get around this. The first thing that you can do is to remove the outermost leaves that come away from the head of cabbage easily at the base. Once they start getting packed in, flip the cabbage over and using a sharp knife cut the leaves off at the base. As you cut away place the head of cabbage under running water and that will help the leaves come off as you gently lift from the base of the leaves.
What is the best way to soften cabbage leaves?
I have tried a few ways to get the cabbage softened. Freezing any vegetable breaks down the leaves which will soften them, but they can become too soft and break easily. Microwaving the leaves will soften them as well but they don’t heat evenly and therefore can be tender and rigid at the same time. The same thing goes with boiling the whole cabbage at once. I have found that boiling a few leaves at a time for about a minute makes for the easiest to use leaves that are consistently softened.
Can I make these Japanese cabbage rolls vegetarian?
You most certainly can. Instead of using ground pork you can use tofu and replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth. However, if you are going to use tofu, I would also add some mushrooms such as shitake, oyster, and king mushrooms as well and mince them in a food processor. The best part of this process is you can actually mix the entire vegetarian filling in a food processor. You can also use a meat substitute in the cabbage rolls as well.
Looking for other healthy recipes?
Japanese Cabbage Rolls
Equipment
- Pot
- Plate
- Dutch oven
- Tongs
- Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 savoy cabbage outer 12 leaves gently removed, see notes
Broth
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 3 tablespoons sake
- ½ ounce lemongrass sliced
Ginger Pork filling
- 1 ½ pounds ground pork
- ¾ cup panko
- ¼ cup shallots chopped
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons ginger chopped
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- Whole chives optional
- Sesame oil optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, 177°C, or gas mark 4.
- Bring a pot of salted water to boil, add 4 cabbage leaves at a time and cook for 1 minute. Just enough to soften to leaves and stems. Remove from the pot with tongs and place on a towel lined plate. Repeat 2 more times in batches of 4.1 savoy cabbage
- In a mixing bowl combine the pork, ginger, panko, egg, soy sauce, shallots, and garlic. Mix until evenly mixed.1 ½ pounds ground pork, ¾ cup panko, ¼ cup shallots, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons ginger, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon garlic
- On a flat surface place one cabbage leaf with the stalk facing you. Place ¼ cup of the ground pork in the middle of the leaf. Roll the base of the leaf oven to pork and fold in the sides. Continue to roll until you get to the top of the leaf. Tie with a chive if desired.1 savoy cabbage, Whole chives
- Repeat with the remaining cabbage leaves and filling. Once all 12 have used place them in a Dutch oven in two layers. Pour the chicken broth, sake and lemongrass over the cabbage rolls. Bring to a boil, cover and then bake for 40 minutes.3 cups chicken broth, 3 tablespoons sake, ½ ounce lemongrass
- Serve in a bowl with the leftover broth and add sesame oil if desired.Sesame oil
Notes
- Remove the outermost leaf if it is damaged or browning.
- The outer leaves will be easy to remove however after about the 6th leaf or so they become tightly packed. You can use a knife to cut out the core of the cabbage from the bottom. This will help release the leaves from the base making them easier to remove.
Nutrition
These are so easy to make and whenever I make them for friends they disappear within minutes.