How to Love Zha Cai
The number one pickle in China doesn't seem to get a lot of international love.
Go to practically any Chinese supermarket anywhere in the world, and it’s practically a guarantee that you’ll be able to find Zha Cai – Chinese Pickled Mustard Stems. Even poorly stocked grocers will tend to have a few bags; in China, you can even grab some at a convenience store.
And yet, in the English language world of Chinese cooking, it’s a pickle that seems to get comparatively little recipe play.
Dan Dan noodle enthusiasts will drive to the four corners of the earth to track down Yacai (Sichuan Pickled Mustard Greens) but Zhacai? Seems to get a lot less love. It’s often a source of frustration, even – it’s hard to count the number of times I’ve seen people mistakenly grab a bag instead of the Yacai (or Suancai or Meicai or Datoucai) that our recipe called for, followed by a panicked message asking whether or not it could work as a substitute. A completely understandable situation, of course, as the English translations for Chinese pickles are sheer chaos:
But whether you bought Zhacai on purpose or by accident, I think the question of “okay, so how do people actually use this stuff?” naturally follows. Because I mean… at grocers it’s practically as common as salt and soy sauce, right? Certainly people are doing something with it.
The Easiest Way to Enjoy Zhacai
Here’s the easiest way that you can enjoy Zhacai:
Purchase a bag of Zhacai
Open bag of Zhacai
Consume bag of Zhacai
Of course, it can be an ingredient too (which we’ll get to in a second), but that’s the base scenario.
It can work as a snack: when Steph was growing up in 90s Guangdong Zhacai was like the ultimate kid’s favorite - her an her friends would sneak and huddle around a bag of Zhacai between classes much in the same way me and my friends would a pack of Starburst or M&Ms.
It also can work as an drinking food: moving to China in my 20s, I was first introduced to the stuff as a beer snack. It’s salty, flavorful, and a good way to break the monotony between gulps. If you’re the type of person that likes munching on some peanuts along with your drink, one of these days try maybe giving a bag of Zhacai a whirl. I like the Mala flavor.
It can work as a humble meal, even - toss some rice in the rice cooker, consume with a bag of Zhacai. If you want to get really fancy, you could toss a whole egg in with your rice while boiling some vegetables on the side (like… a Danshan-based Vegetable in Water, some spicy Zhacai, a boiled egg, a bit of rice - solid tasty-to-effort ratio right there). If you’re familiar with the term “mealtime video”, it’s got a direct Chinese translation - electronic Zhacai (电子榨菜). You know, something to help the meal go down smooth:
Zhacai Purchasing
Now, at this point we should caution that there’s not a singular sort of Zhacai - when you go to a Chinese grocer, quite often you can be greeted with an entire wall of the stuff. By far, the most common brand these days is this Sichuanese sort:
And even just their product line is rather extensive. What you’ll likely see on the shelf is some selection of:
Jiangxiang (酱香), “sauce flavor”. This is sort of the ‘basic flavor’ of Zhacai.
Shuangcui (爽脆), “extra crunchy”. This uses the inner part of the mustard stem and is, well, extra crunchy.
Qingshuang (清爽), “light”. Zhacai is quite salty, and this is a low sodium version. Note that this name - Qingshuang - doesn’t obviously refer to something that’s low sodium - if that’s the dietary hand you’ve been played, look for the characters “轻盐” (which refer to low sodium products)
Weila (微辣), “medium spicy”.
Suanla (酸辣), “sour spicy”.
Mala (麻辣), “numbing spicy”.
Top row: Jiangxiang, Shuangcui, Qingxiang; Bottom row: Weila, Suanla, Mala
As a snack to devour direct out of the bag, I personally usually reach for the Mala flavor (again, great with beer). In our recipes though, the bag we opt for is Jiangxiang - “sauce flavor” - as it’s a little more plug-and-play for cooking.
Because if you’re whipping up some Cantonese food, you probably don’t want some sort of Mala base as the flavor for your stir fry. But even then, I don’t think you need to be too too paranoid when purchasing - even in more mild Chinese cuisines, Zhacai-based flavor profiles are almost always some of the more intensely flavored of the bunch.
Would your Shanghai steamed tofu with Century Egg, Zhacai, Seasoned Soy Sauce, and Shanghai-style chili oil really be completely ruined with a little Mala in the mix?
…probably not.
How to Use Zhacai as an Ingredient
So given that the stuff can be eaten straight up as a snack, the most obvious application would be to elevate it a little bit and turn it into a Chinese cold dish - i.e. a Chinese salad. On that front, we’ve got two recipes for you, but quick warning… that that might be straining the definition of ‘recipe’ a little bit. Conceptualize them both as something your could easily whip up in three minutes if you had some surprise friends come over.
Second, you can use Zhacai as a base flavor for various stir fries. In a cuisine where you often need to get a number of different dishes on the table at the same time, instant flavor in a bag is the cook’s best friend. By far the most iconic Zhacai stir fry is Zhacai pork slivers - we covered the dish in a previous post, but the recipe is also re-printed here.
But you can use that same base to make a number of different stir fries. So below that, we’ll also teach you some Zhacai fried scrambled eggs (also covered in the video), which can hopefully provide a template for frying up whatever you feel like frying up. Hell, you can even stir-fry-then-soupify, as we discussed in our Soup Noodle 101 post.
And third, we’ll also cover how to smother some steamed rice noodles with Zhacai and Beef - mostly because it’s a (reasonably easy) Cantonese dish that me and Steph both adore.
In any event, even if you follow none of the below recipes, do remember this for your Zhacai explorations:
Zhacai’s salty already, so don’t overdo it when seasoning.
Zhacai’s best friends are garlic, sugar, and soy sauce.
Chili pepper is also invited, depending on the cook.
Basic Zhacai Salad
A snack.
As covered at 2:45 in this video.
Mince:
1 clove garlic
Roughly chop:
1 sprig cilantro
In a bowl, mix:
Garlic and Cilantro from above
1 pack of Zhacai (80g)
⅛ tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp sugar
½ tsp Dark Chinese vinegar
½ tsp Toasted Sesame Oil
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
Basic Zhacai Salad with Cucumber
A larger snack.
De-seed, halve, and cut into 1” chopstick-sized strips:
1 Asian or English Cucumber
1 Fresh Mild Chili
Mince:
3 cloves garlic
In a bowl, mix:
Cucumber, mild chili, and garlic from above
½ pack Zhacai (40g)
¼ tsp sugar
⅛ tsp MSG
½ tsp soy sauce
½ tsp Dark Chinese vinegar
In the video, we also topped with some scallion greens, as we had some around.
Zhacai Fried Pork Slivers
Serves one (or two, alongside rice and blanched vegetable).
As covered in 5:05 in this video.
Mince:
2 cloves of garlic
~½ inch of ginger
Julienne:
20g carrot
Slice into ~2 inch slivers:
200g pork loin
Marinate with:
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
½ tsp soy sauce
½ tsp Shaoxing wine
⅛ tsp white pepper powder
2 tbsp water
~1 tsp oil to coat
and set aside. In a separate small bowl, prepare the seasoning:
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp dark soy sauce
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp sugar
⅛ tsp MSG
⅛ tsp white pepper powder
Also, prepare a slurry of:
½ tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water
In a wok, pre-fry the marinated pork. Heat ~5 tbsp of oil (or enough to almost submerge the pork in your wok or pan) over a high flame. Once the oil can rabidly bubble around a pair of chopsticks, ~180C, shallow fry marinated pork for ~45 seconds. Remove and strain.
Keep ~2 tbsp of oil in the wok for the stir-fry, discarding the remainder. Before stir-frying, prepare:
1 pack (80g) Zhacai
50g beansprouts
1 tbsp Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine, for swirling in when stir frying.
To stir fry:
Over a low flame stir fry the minced garlic and ginger until fragrant. Turn the flame to high, and add in the Zhacai. Fry for ~30 seconds, then swirl in the Shaoxing wine. Add in the pork and the seasoning. Mix, then add in the julienned carrot and the beansprouts. Mix and swap the flame to low. Drizzle in the slurry, mix, and remove.
Zhacai Fried Eggs
Serves one (or two, alongside rice and blanched vegetable).
Mince:
4 cloves of garlic
Slice into 1cm strips:
2 medium mild green chilis
In a bowl, whisk
4 eggs
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp white pepper
until no stray strands of egg white remain.
Next, pre-fry the eggs. To a wok, swirl in ~1.5 tbsp of oil. Over a high flame, add in the beaten eggs. Scramble by allowing to set, whilst periodically pushing the set bits to the side of the wok to allow the uncooked liquid to flow to the bottom. Once everything is set, remove.
Before stir-frying, prepare:
½ pack (40g) Zhacai
1 tsp Liaojiu a.k.a. Shaoxing wine, for swirling in when stir frying.
1 tsp soy sauce, for swirling in when stir frying.
To stir fry:
Over a medium-high flame in ~1 tbsp oil, stir fry the garlic until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add in the mild chili and fry for another ~30 seconds. Add in the Zhacai, then swirl in the Shaoxing wine. Mix again, then swirl in the soy sauce. Swap the flame to maximum.
Add in the egg. Break it up with the spatula, stir frying for ~45 seconds. Season with:
½ tsp sugar
⅛ tsp MSG
or, to taste.
Zhacai Beef Steamed Rice Noodles
Serves one, or can function as the starch component in a larger meal.
Sourcing note: For this dish, we are looking for thin rice noodles. Vietnamese rice ‘vermicelli’ may be the easiest internationally-available option.
In a bowl, soak:
100g thin rice noodles
by submerging in water for 30 minutes.
Slice into one inch strips, about the thickness of a chopstick:
200g beef loin
Marinate the beef with:
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp MSG
1 tsp sugar
½ tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp soy sauce
½ tsp dark soy sauce
3 tbsp of water
Mix well to ensure the water is absorbed, also mix in:
½ pack (40g) Zhacai
1.5 tbsp peanut oil, to coat
Once the rice noodles are done soaking (they should be soft enough that you can break them apart with your fingers), strain well. Then mix the rice noodles with:
⅛ tsp salt
¼ tsp MSG
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
Top the marinated beef/zhacai mixture on the seasoned rice noodles. Steam on high for eight minutes.
Finish it with:
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
Scallion greens, optionally, for garnish
Love Zhacai. Great over rice or a good way to perk up a bowl of instant ramen. I've tried three flavors so far by blindly ordering on Amazon. Mala, Weila and Jiangxiang.
Really informative video (to go with so many others! ) Love them