I never really grew up eating cabbage any other way than cole slaw, but Asian cuisine really turned me on to this delight.  Especially Kung Pao chicken with it’s fiery peppers and crunchy cabbage.  Cabbage also happens to be extremely healthy and loaded with essential vitamins and minerals while maintaining an incredibly low level calories per serving.  It’s known a bland, but bland just means you have a lot of room to work.  In this series of recipes you’ll learn how to prepare a basic hot cabbage side dish, and from this recipe you’ll move on to spicing it up from different cultures!

Ingredients:

• 1 Head Cabbage
• 1 Bottle of White Zinfandel
• Olive Oil
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic
• Onion
• Onion Powder
• 6-8 Brussel Sprouts, minced

Recipe:

• Either Slice, Dice, or Chop your cabbage into whatever size and shape pieces you would prefer.  I like to cut off the bottom, slice it in half and get out as much of the rough core as I can
• Measure out about 2 – 2 1/2 cups of Wine
• In a wok, get your butter and oil heated to medium high
• Mince your Garlic and Slice your onions
• Toss onions and garlic into buttery oil
• Simmer about 4 minutes or until the onions are starting to become translucent
• Add in the Cabbage and minced brussel sprouts and toss so that all of it is evenly coated
• Salt, Pepper, and Onion powder the beast, about 1 tbsp (sounds like a lot, but this is a lot of cabbage)
• Let them sizzle for about 10 minutes, stirring often
• Add in the zinfandel and the vinegar, about 1 Tbsp vinegar max!
• Put a lid on it and let it cook for about 20 more minutes, or until tender

Now it may be a little bit on the bland side, and if you don’t taste the wine flavor at all, be sure to add more.  But the key to this is that you can do whatever you want at this point with it flavor wise.  That’s why this is a 3 part article, this is the base recipe for the next two, where I show you how to make an Asian inspired and a southwest inspired recipe using this one.  I hope you’re ready, cause it’s about to get delicious in here!