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5 from 5 votes
Hero shot of Simmered Pork Patties and Chinese Cabbage.
Simmered Pork Patties and Chinese Cabbage
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Tofu pressing time
10 mins
Total Time
45 mins
 

The hero of today's dish, Simmered Pork Patties and Chinese Cabbage is not the pork patties but the Chinese cabbages. The cabbages are sautéed, then simmered with the pork patties in a lightly flavoured sauce until they melt in your month. Simmered Pork Patties and Chinese Cabbage is a Japanese home-cooking dish that you will probably never see in restaurants. It looks very simple but is so delicious.

Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.

Serves: 3 -4
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • 350g / 0.8lb Chinese cabbage
  • 1 stem shallot (Aussie)/scallions
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp oil
Pork Patties
  • 250g / 0.6lb pork mince/ground pork
  • 100g / 3.5oz tofu (note 1)
  • 30g / 1.1oz shiitake mushrooms finely diced
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • 1 tsp cornflour/corn starch
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 egg yolk or ½ egg
Simmering Sauce
Instructions
Preparations
  1. Halve the Chinese cabbage leaves vertically, then slice diagonally using sogi-giri method, perpendicular to the first cut, into large bite-size pieces (see the photo in the post).

  2. Cut the shallot/scallions diagonally into 5cm long.
  3. Place a clean kitchen towel or kitchen paper on a cutting board and place the tofu pieces on it. Cover the tofu pieces with another kitchen towel/paper, then place a tray with a small weight, or a flat large plate upside down on top of it.

  4. Tilt the cutting board, with the lower end to the sink so that the excess water drains into the sink. Leave for 10-15 minutes.
Pork Patties
  1. Place the tofu in a bowl and break it into small crumbs by hand. Add all the remaining Pork Patties ingredients to the bowl and mix well.

  2. Wet your hands and take 1/15 or 1/16 of the pork mixture, and make a flat round patty of 5cm / 2” in diameter. Repeat and make 15-16 patties. (note 2)

  3. Add sesame oil and oil to a large frying pan and heat over medium heat.

  4. Place the patties in the frying pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes until the bottom of the patties become golden brown.

  5. Turn them over and cook further 1 minute or so until the bottom of the patties become golden brown. It's OK even if the patties are not cooked through. Transfer the patties to a plate.

Simmering
  1. Add the stem part of the Chinese cabbage pieces to the pan and sauté over medium high heat for 30 seconds, then add the rest of the Chinese cabbage pieces and shallots to the pan. Cook another 30 seconds.

  2. Add the Simmering ingredients, excluding cornstarch, and the patties to the pan and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook with a lid on for about 10 minutes until the Chinese cabbage pieces become soft.

  3. Add the cornstarch to the pan and mix well. When the sauce thickens, turn the heat off.
  4. Serve while hot - individually or on a large plate to share.

Recipe Notes

1. Tofu can be either firm tofu (momen tofu) or silken tofu (kinugosh-dōfu). The very hard tofu/extra firm tofu is not suited for this.

If you prefer not to use tofu in the patties, you can replace it with 50g / 1.8oz of mince.

2. Depending on the number of servings, you may want to change the total number of patties you make.

3. You can make the pork patties ahead of time and even freeze them. To defrost, either naturally defrost in the fridge or use a microwave. Then you only need to do the Simmering steps in the instructions on the day of serving. You will need to add some oil to sauté the vegetables.

4. Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings.

serving: 263g calories: 301kcal fat: 23g (35%) saturated fat: 6.4g (32%) trans fat: 0.0g polyunsaturated fat: 4.2g monounsaturated fat: 11g cholesterol: 92mg (31%) sodium: 757mg (32%) potassium: 567mg (16%) carbohydrates: 6.1g (2%) dietary fibre: 1.5g (6%) sugar: 1.5g protein: 17g vitamin a: 80% vitamin c: 68% calcium: 14% iron: 11%