Pickled Mustard Cabbage With Pork

About Me

Hi, my name is Amy Chang and I’m from Hilo. My parents were originally Chinese from Vietnam and made their way to California before settling in Hawaii. I have degree in Psychology and I am currently back in school part-time in order to become a nurse practitioner in the future. I spend most of my time working full-time for my parents at their little restaurant and on our family farm (we grow mostly longan). I am going to talk about pickled mustard cabbage with pork because it is one of my favorite dishes that my mom always makes for us that most people outside my community have not eaten before. Pickled mustard cabbage is called sin choi in Cantonese and Ngai Chinese dialects. My mom and my grandma make their own pickled mustard to ensure the best flavor when it is ready for eating. When I am away from home, this is the dish that I miss most since it is very difficult to find pickled mustard cabbage in most places especially when I was studying abroad in Scotland, and many prepackaged pickled mustard cabbage have additional preservatives that affect the taste of the cabbage and the dish.

Pickling mustard cabbage and other vegetables was a way of preserving food for long periods of time when food sources were scarce or low. My ancestors and great-grandparents came from a Chinese minority group, the Ngai, that lived in various places in rural Vietnam. They ate pickled mustard cabbage with pork as a comfort food because it was delicious and it could be eaten all year round because the pickled mustard lasted for a long time. When my paternal family and relatives moved from Vietnam after the war to the US, mustard cabbage was not available or hard to find in their area so they were unable to make this dish. After the local Asian populations increased in his area did mustard cabbage become available to make this dish. My maternal family arrived in the early 90s so they did not have to miss the dish most of their life like my dad did.

I eat pickled mustard cabbage stewed with pork at least once a month since it is easy to make and my family keeps a lot of pickled mustard cabbage. The dish is usually served with rice to counter the high sodium content. It also goes well with rice porridge when I am sick and cannot eat many foods. Whenever someone is sick, we are only allowed to have plain rice porridge and one salty side dish. Pickled mustard cabbage is perfect because it is delicious and is a great accompaniment to plain, watery, rice porridge. The pickled mustard can also be stewed with tomatoes and whole fish as a pescatarian alternative. Another recipe with pickled mustard cabbage is a soup that includes tomatoes, bitter melon, and lean pork. The same pickling for mustard cabbage can also be used for daikon radish and the radish leaves if mustard cabbage is not available.

My Food

Pickled mustard cabbage is sour, but by cooking it with pork belly this dish becomes incredibly savory and salty on top pf the sour flavor. Pickled mustard is best when it is homemade but they are available at Asian grocery stores in vacuum sealed bags. My family washes the mustard cabbage and dries them out in the sun. After drying out in the sun for one to three days, they are placed in a garbage bag within a plastic tub with salt and the tub is sealed shut and placed in a dark, cool area. After a few weeks, the mustard cabbage is pickled and ready for consumption. The pork and pickles are stewed together in a pot for 30 minutes with water, fish sauce, garlic, and ginger. It can be eaten at any time. This dish is cooked in such a big pot that there are many servings and many meals from one pot.

My Video

Pickled Mustard Cabbage with Pork by Amy Chang featuring Thang Le

My dad, Thang, describes growing up with pickled mustard cabbage or sin choi in Chinese from his early childhood in Vietnam to his current life in the US. He explains the process of pickling and cooking with the pickled cabbage along with the availability and accessibility of mustard cabbage in the US in the past and the present.

Nutritional Information

My Plate & SPC Classification

SPC Classification:

Protective Food (Pickled Mustard Cabbage) and Body-Building Food (Pork Belly)