The humble cabbage has been long forgotten in many Australian diets, most of us can’t name a cabbage dish beyond coleslaw. But this nutritious and inexpensive brassica deserves another look. The mild flavour profile of cabbage easily pairs with a multitude of flavours. It can be cooked, fermented and even eaten raw and depending on the type of cabbage, it can stay fresh in the vegetable crisper for a surprising amount of time. Cabbage is particularly prominent in Korean cuisine, fermented cabbage is the main ingredient of Kimchi which is eaten by Koreans practically every day and has become a symbol of Korean identity. This recipe is inspired by the Korean love of cabbage and uses a popular Korean chilli paste (Gochujang) to add a dash of spice to the smokey toasty flavours of charred cabbage and miso butter.
Ingredients
- 1/2 small green cabbage cut into 8 x wedges
- 4 fresh eggs
- Olive oil for brushing
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- salt for cooking pasta
- 1 packet of spaghetti
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1.5 tbsp miso paste (red or white)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup Gochujang paste (Korean chilli paste)
- 2 tbsp cup sesame oil
- ½ tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 3 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Method
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil for the pasta.
- Make the Gochujang dressing by combining, Gochujang paste, sesame oil, caster sugar, water, rice vinegar and soy sauce and mix until sugar is dissolved.
- Brush cabbage wedges with a little oil and season with salt.
- Cook pasta 1 minute less than instructions (almost al dente – as the pasta will continue cooking in the pan with the butter), reserve ¼ cup of pasta water before draining.
- Heat an oiled griddle pan (or heavy-bottomed frying pan) on medium-high heat, add the cabbage wedges in batches and cook turning once. The cabbage slices should be nicely charred and softened but still retain their shape. Remove from pan, cover and set aside.
- In a large cold pan heat oil and garlic on medium heat, when the garlic starts to sizzle add butter and miso, stirring until the butter is melted and combined with the miso, do not allow the butter to burn, reduce heat if needed.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and gradually add the reserved pasta water to loosen up the sauce, but not too much to make it watery.
- Add the cooked pasta to the miso butter sauce and toss to coat well and take off the heat.
- Fry eggs by coating the base of a large non-stick frypan in oil and setting on medium-low heat. Carefully crack eggs into the pan, if the oil starts to spit, turn down the heat. Fry until egg whites are set and yolks are still runny, remove from pan to avoid overcooking.
- Divide the spaghetti among 4 bowls, top with charred cabbage, fried egg and drizzle with gochujang dressing. Finish off by sprinkling with sliced spring onions or other toppings of your choice.