Pork & Napa Cabbage Soup

I ordered too much napa cabbage from my supplier. Hence I decided to cook some for early morning meryenda. Perfect for this gloomy weather.

Ingredients

•     1 teaspoon ghee or fat of choice
•     1 small onion, diced
•     Kosher salt
•     1 pound ground pork (ground chicken thighs, beef, and turkey also work)
•     6 large fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and thinly sliced (dried and reconstituted ’shrooms work, too)
•     2 garlic cloves, minced
•     6 cups bone broth or stock
•     1 head Napa cabbage (2 pounds), cut crosswise into 1-inch segments (bok choy or Savoy cabbage are good alternatives)
•     2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
•     1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
•     Freshly ground black pepper
•     3 scallions, thinly sliced

Equipment

•     Large pot or Instant Pot pressure cooker
•     Chef’s knife
•     Cutting board
•     Silicone spatula

Method

• Heat the ghee in a large pot over medium heat. When the fat is shimmering, toss in the diced onion with a sprinkle of salt.
• Adding diced onions to a stockpot to make Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup
• Sauté the onions, stirring occasionally, until softened (about 3 minutes).
• Sautéing diced onions until they are soft.
• Add the ground pork and break it up with a spatula.
• Adding ground pork to the diced onions in the stockpot
• Stir in the sliced mushrooms and another sprinkle of salt.
• Sliced shiitake mushrooms are added to the pot with the ground pork and diced onions
• Cook the pork and mushrooms until the meat is no longer pink and the shiitakes are tender (about 5 to 7 minutes).
• An overhead shot of the cooked ground pork, mushrooms, and diced onions in the pot.
• Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
• Stirring in minced ginger into the pot.
• Pour in the broth and crank up the heat to high. Bring everything to a boil.
• Pouring broth into the pot of Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup
• Then, stir in the cabbage, carrots and potato, and bring the soup back to a boil. Don’t worry about cramming too many veggies into the pot—the cabbage will cook down!
• Stirring in sliced Napa cabbage and carrots into the pot.
• Lower the heat to medium or medium low to maintain a simmer, and partially cover the soup with a lid, leaving a crack so it doesn’t boil over.
• Putting the lid on the Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup, but leaving it open a crack
• Simmer the soup, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are easily pierced with a fork (about 15 minutes). Peek under the lid to make sure that the soup isn’t boiling over or barely percolating, and adjust the heat up or down as needed.

If you want to make this soup in a Instant Pot or pressure cooker, sauté the ingredients in the pressure cooker as directed above. When you’re ready to simmer the soup, close and lock the lid; then, cook it under high pressure for 3-5 minutes. Release the pressure manually when the soup is finished cooking.

Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Ladle into bowls and garnish with fresh scallions.

Sprinkling sliced scallions on a bowl of Pork and Napa Cabbage Soup

If you’ve got leftovers, you can store ’em in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze for several months. Try this soup for breakfast on a chilly morning, and you’ll never crave a soggy bowl of cereal again!