Published: · Modified: by Pailin Chongchitnant · This post may contain affiliate links
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This incredibly simple 4-ingredient cabbage recipe has gained much popularity in Thailand because it is such a delicious side vegetable to go with just about any Thai meal! The humble cabbage transforms into a garlicky, umami dish with just one seasoning ingredient. Hard to believe how good this is given how few ingredients there are, but it's such a useful dish to have in your repertoire because you can cook it up in an instant on a busy weeknight!
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Garlicky Cabbage & Fish Sauce Side Dish กะหล่ำปลีผัดนำ้ปลา
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.8 from 8 reviews
- Author: Pailin Chongchitnant
- Yield: Serves 2
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stir-Fry
Ingredients
- 200g green cabbage, cut into 2-inch pieces (if the stem/rib is very thick cut it smaller.)
- 1 Tbsp good quality fish sauce, see fish sauce I recommend in this "Fish Sauce Tasting" video
- 8-10 cloves garlic, smashed
- ¼ tsp ground white or black pepper (optional)
- Neutral flavoured cooking oil
Instructions
- Heat a wok over medium heat and add just a little oil to coat the bottom.
- Add the garlic right away (no need to wait for the oil to get hot) and keep stirring the garlic until the edges start to turn golden.
- Toss in the cabbage, thenturn the heat up to high and toss to get the leaves coated in oil.
- Drizzle the fish sauce over the cabbage, add the pepper if using, then keep tossing for 1-2 more minutes, or until the cabbage is done to your liking.
- Remove from heat, plate, and garnish with an extra sprinkling of pepper if desired.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- I prefer Asian style cabbage with more delicate leaves. These are the cabbage heads that look more squat and flat than the more common round ones. But the regular round one will work just fine.
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Aluma
I made these with napa cabbage and the effort to payout ratio here is unbelievable. So delicious! thank you for this recipe it's a keeper 🙂
Reply
Daniel
I made this tonight to go with Pailin's Vietnamese Caramel Chicken. OMG, it's so good.
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Anthony Weekley aka bianchiveloce
I made the recipe early this morning for my upcoming lunches this week at work. I did deviate from the recipe in that I added a pack of Baby Portobello mushrooms. I've been on a serious mushroom kick now for a couple of months, just couldn't help myself to add them to the cabbage recipe. The finished dish is so very delicious. To complete my lunches for the week, I whipped up a Cuban side dish of Arroz Congri ( Black Beans with rice) to go along with the Thai Cabbage with Fish sauce to make it an international pairing.
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Maddy
Made this yesterday with green cabbage and it was great! Does anyone know the name of the "asian style" cabbage or have a picture of it when it is intact and whole? I want to see if I can find it. Thanks! 🙂
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Amanda
I see it routinely at my Asian market, it's really noticeable- they look like a round green cabbage that someone smooshed down 🙂
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Le Wang
It's called "Korean cabbage" at my Chinese supermarket. It's a flattened sphere instead of a full sphere of the Western cabbage. It's less fiberous and ribby than the Western.
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Mercedes
Absolutely brilliant recipe. I made this last night with cabbage but since i am using my cabbage to make kimchee I used kale today and it was still good. I still prefer the cabbage but sacrifices had to be made since I had no idea I would be craving more today. It is really that good!
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Tim Doughty
It’s terrific! This will be a standard go-to when I want a side dish but don’t feel like working hard.
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Mark
I first had this almost 2 years ago at a small seaside restaurant on Ko Sichang (the main dish was Tamarind shrimp) but they added bits of bacon to it! It's now a favorite of mine because it's so easy to make.
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Frank
Hi. Really appreciate your recipes and enjoy your channel.
Totally irrelevant to the recipe: I just want to mention that if you are standing maybe two or three inches taller when you stir fry, would your cooking be more comfortable?Reply
flash gordon MD
I previously tried making this with some pre minced garlic from a jar. Worthless. This time I did it the right way and it was wonderful! I used a lot more pepper than I did let the previous time: I used the red boat fish sauce unlike the cheap stuff from before, and I am so glad I did!
The only downside is that I'll have to take a lot more Beano, so the cats will continue to sleep in the bed.
It's worth it!
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Jai
I love this technique with every vegetable I've tried so far - it's even good with cucumbers instead of cabbage. It's often served with scrambled eggs as the protein, too. One of my absolute favorite vegetable dishes here in Thailand.
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Tina
Barely a recipe, but stupid good as advertised.
This is essentially just how asian people cook food at home. Stirfry with soy sauce + garlic, done. In this case it happens to be fish sauce, white pepper, and garlic.
I like the suggestion of leaving large chunks of garlic to soften. Not only does it save a ton of work, it tastes great, just as described.
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Ella
Amazing how a dish can be so good when it is so fast and has so few ingredients!
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Scott Pringle
By far the easiest recipe to make with the most flavor!
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