Cabbage rolls with pork & Chinese yam in clear broth
Tender cabbage leaves wrapped around a pork and Chinese yam filling, simmered soft in clear chicken broth — warming and easy to digest.
- 45 min
- Serves 2
- Simmer
- Medium
Why it suits you: Qi Deficiency means tiring easily and a weak appetite, and the surge of liver qi at Awakening of Insects easily unsettles digestion. In-season cabbage wrapped around pork and yam and simmered soft in broth is warming, easy to digest and filling without grease.
Method
Prep 25 min · Cook 20 min- 1Cut out the hard core of the cabbage and peel off 8 large leaves. Blanch them in boiling water for 1–2 minutes until soft, rinse under cold water and shave down the thick central rib.
- 2Wearing gloves, peel the yam; finely dice half and cut the rest into thick slices. Mix the pork with the diced yam, ginger, soy sauce, cornflour and 2 tbsp water, stirring in one direction until sticky.
- 3Put 1½ tbsp of filling on each leaf, fold in the sides and roll up tightly.
- 4Pack the rolls seam-side down in a wide pot, add the yam slices, stock and water, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes until the filling is cooked through.
- 5Taste and add a little salt, scatter over the spring onion and serve the rolls in their broth with rice.
Chef's tips
- Wrap the rolls the night before, cover with cling film and refrigerate, then simmer them straight after work.
- Blanch the leaves until soft so they roll without tearing; overlap two smaller leaves if needed.
The TCM view
Cabbage is sweet and neutral and settles the stomach; Chinese yam is sweet and neutral and builds spleen qi; lean pork is sweet, salty and neutral and nourishes; a little ginger is pungent and warm and warms the middle. The classic spring advice is 'less sour, more sweet' to protect the spleen, and simmering in broth is gentler on digestion than frying.
