This is a great and simple dish to share with friends and family when the weather starts to get a bit colder. A hot pot at the farm makes a perfect lunch for when your bones are cold and muscles are tired from a morning of harvesting and planting. When the Napa cabbage is ready at the farm, that’s how I know that soup season is on the horizon.
Typically a Mille Feuille Nabe is layered with thin slices of pork belly, where here we made more of a dumpling style filling to layer between the juicy Napa cabbage leaves. Eat this with a bowl of sticky rice and a side of assorted fermented pickled vegetables and you’ll be able to run through a wall, I guarantee it.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large Napa Cabbage
2 cups chicken stock
1 small knob of ginger, sliced
1 tbsp dashi stock powder
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Chilli oil to finish
For the filling:
1/2lb ground pork
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1 clove grated garlic
1 cup green onions, cut into chunks
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp salt
METHOD:
For the dashi broth, combine the chicken broth, ginger and dashi powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let the ginger infused into the broth for at least 10 minutes. Set aside to let cool slightly , but not get too cold.
For the dumpling filling, first place the chopped green onions into a food processor and pulse until very fine. Add the remaining ingredients including the ground pork and pulse until the mixture is well combined.
To assemble your nabe, take your Napa cabbage and remove the outer leaves , you will likely need 6 good sized leaves depending on the size of pot you will be using. Square off the cabbage leaves so they are somewhat even in size and shape(they do not need to be perfect). Take one leaf and begin to spread out the filling in an even layer. Place your next leaf on top and repeat the process. Repeat this until you have 4 layers of Napa cabbage and filling. Then, cut your Mille feuille into pieces about as wide as your pot is deep and begin to squeeze them into to the pot. Fit as many as you can so the pot is completely full.
The next step is to ladle over your dashi stock till it is just shy of the top of the cabbage. Put the lid on your pot and place over a medium flame and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, let you Mille Feuille cook for about 10 minutes.
To serve, remove the lid and scatter over your sliced green onions and a drizzle of your favourite chilli oil. Scoop out the layers of Mille feuille over some sticky rice don’t forget to kale over some of the dashi stock!