Suan Cai substitute

Substitutes for Suan Cai with ratios

1. 2Pickled or Preserved Mustard Greens (Haam Choy, Dua Cai, Sour Mustard)

   Close match

   Use the same amount soaked 10 minutes, squeezed and chopped

   The bagged or canned sour mustard greens found in every Chinese, Taiwanese and Vietnamese grocery.

   What changes

   Soak briefly to reduce salt, squeeze hard, and chop into short lengths.

   Best for

   noodle soups, suan cai yu, pork stir-fries, braises, fish soups, hot pot

   In much of southern China and Taiwan this is what suan cai means, so calling it a substitute is almost a technicality. It is more assertively mustardy and often considerably saltier than the northeastern napa version, so soak it and cut the salt in the recipe. It is also leafier and gives less bulk, so a pork and cabbage stew made with it has less substance to eat. In a fish soup it is arguably better than the cabbage kind.

2. 3Kimchi, Rinsed and Squeezed

   Different taste

   Use the same amount rinsed and squeezed, and reduce added salt

   Well-fermented napa cabbage kimchi, rinsed under cold water to remove the chilli paste, squeezed dry and chopped into short lengths.

   What changes

   Best for

   pork and cabbage stew, noodle soups, hot pot, dumpling fillings, fried rice

   Structurally ideal, since it is the same vegetable fermented the same way and it keeps its crunch beautifully in a long simmer. What comes with it is a lot: garlic, ginger, gochugaru and usually salted shrimp or fish sauce, so a northeastern pork and cabbage stew becomes something very close to kimchi jjigae. That is a delicious dish and not the dish you set out to cook. Rinsing removes most of the chilli but none of the garlic.

3. 4Quick Soured Napa Cabbage (30 Minutes)

   Different taste

   1 lb shredded napa, 1 Tbsp salt for 30 minutes, squeezed, then 3 Tbsp rice vinegar and 1 tsp sugar

   Cut napa cabbage into long ribbons, toss with the salt and leave thirty minutes until it wilts and releases water, squeeze firmly, then dress with the vinegar and sugar.

   What changes

   Best for

   suan cai yu, pork and cabbage stew, noodle soups, stir-fries

   The best from-scratch answer and a genuinely useful trick, because it delivers the two most important things at once, real sourness and the correct crunchy ribbon texture. What thirty minutes cannot give you is fermentation, so it tastes clean and vinegary rather than aged and savoury, and the broth ends up brighter and thinner in flavour. Frying the squeezed cabbage in a little oil before the liquid goes in helps a surprising amount.

4. 5Zha Cai (Sichuan Preserved Mustard Stem), Rinsed and Shredded

   Taste and texture differ

   Use the same amount by volume, rinsed, but expect much less bulk

   Rinse the salted chilli coating off, squeeze dry, and cut into fine shreds.

   What changes

   Add near the end of cooking rather than at the start.

   Best for

   noodle soups, pork stir-fries, congee, fried rice

   It brings salt, crunch and a preserved-mustard flavour, so it seasons a bowl correctly, but it is a different kind of ingredient. Zha cai is dense and knobbly rather than leafy, so it contributes almost no volume and cannot fill out a stew the way a mound of sour cabbage does. It is also much less sour and distinctly hotter and more mustardy. Fine as a seasoning, poor as a replacement for the vegetable itself.

5. 6Fresh Cabbage Plus Extra Vinegar (the omission fix)

   Taste and texture differ

   Use Equal weight of napa or green cabbage, plus 2 Tbsp rice vinegar for every pound, added at the end

   Use fresh cabbage for the bulk and body, and add the vinegar in the last few minutes of cooking so it does not boil away.

   What changes

   Best for

   pork and cabbage stew, noodle soups, hot pot

   The honest least-bad option, and worth stating clearly what it costs. You get the volume, the sweetness and something sour, so the dish is balanced and edible. What is entirely missing is the fermented savour, that slightly funky depth that makes northeastern pork and suan cai taste like itself rather than like cabbage soup with vinegar in it. Add a teaspoon of soy sauce and a small piece of dried shiitake to put back a little complexity.