Japan — introduced from China in Meiji era; naturalised as Japan's essential winter vegetable
Hakusai (白菜, napa/Chinese cabbage) is Japan's most essential winter vegetable — a large, elongated, tightly-packed cabbage with pale yellow-green leaves and thick white stems, extraordinarily versatile and present in virtually every category of Japanese winter cooking. Key uses: kimchi (adapted as Japanese hakusai no kimchi-zuke); nabe (the standard leafy green in many hotpots — it wilts and softens beautifully, absorbing the broth); tsukemono (hakusai no shiozuke — the most commonly made home pickle in Japan); stir-fried with pork belly; miso soup; and braised in Chinese-Japanese style preparations. Hakusai's mild flavour and high water content make it remarkably accommodating — it takes surrounding flavours extremely well and softens at different rates (stem takes longer than leaf — ideal for staggered texture in nabe). The winter season peaks in December–January when cold temperatures sweeten the leaves.
Mild, slightly sweet, high water content — flavour amplified dramatically by winter cold; absorbs surrounding flavours readily; the stem is firmer with more structural sweetness; the leaf is softer and more delicate
In nabe, add hakusai stems first (they need more cooking time than the leaves); for shiozuke, use 2% salt by weight and press under a light weight overnight in the refrigerator; cold-weather hakusai (December-January) is significantly sweeter than early-season hakusai; the outer leaves are more bitter and fibrous than the inner pale-yellow heart.
The simplest excellent preparation: hakusai no gomani (sesame stir-braised napa cabbage): cut into 5cm pieces, stir-fry in sesame oil 1 minute, add sake + soy + a small amount of sugar, braise until tender 3 minutes, finish with sesame seeds — intensely satisfying, ready in 8 minutes; hakusai no shiozuke (simple overnight pickle): quarter-cut hakusai + 2% salt by weight + dried chili + optional kombu + pressed overnight = perfect simple pickle; winter hakusai braised in butter, sake, and dashi until completely tender is Hokkaido home cooking comfort at its finest.
Adding entire hakusai leaves to nabe at once (the thick stems are still raw when the leaves have over-cooked — separate and add stems first, leaves 3 minutes later); not salting hakusai before making stir-fries (the high water content will cause the dish to steam rather than stir-fry — salt and squeeze briefly before cooking to remove excess moisture); expecting quick pickled hakusai to have the depth of multi-day pickled hakusai.
Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art — Shizuo Tsuji