Thai cabbage fish sauce stir fry is a 4-ingredient dish has gained much popularity in Thailand, and it's easy to see why! Cabbage is quickly stir fried with lots of garlic and umami fish sauce. The flavour it delivers is almost magical given how simple it is. I probably make this recipe the most often of all my recipes because it is such an easy and fast veg side dish to make, and it goes with just about any Thai meal. And cabbage lasts months in the fridge so I never need to plan ahead!
Some Cultural Context
In Thai, this dish is called galum plee pad nampla กะหล่ำปลีผัดน้ำปลา. It simply translates to "cabbage stir fried with fish sauce." It's a vegetable side dish that can be served with any family-style, rice-based Thai meal. It's strange for something so "basic" to go viral on the internet, but that's what happened. I think the appeal is the simplicity of the dish, and how delicious it turns out.
Ingredients and Important Notes
For a dish with so few ingredients, it's important to get them right! Here is everything you need to know. For amounts, see the full recipe card below.
- Asian cabbage, or regular green cabbage. While you CAN use regular green cabbage for this, if possible I recommend an Asian cabbage, sometimes labelled as "Chinese cabbage." It looks like a regular cabbage that has been squished, so the top and bottom are flat. These are the cabbages used in Thailand, and I prefer them because the leaves are more delicate, and the flavour milder, sweeter, and less bitter than the regular ball-shaped cabbage. The leaves are also less tightly packed together so the head is not as big as it seems.
- High quality fish sauce. While I think it is always a good idea to use high quality fish sauce, it's particularly important in this dish where it is the ONLY seasoning used. Squid (Premium version if available), Red Boat, Megachef, and Abalone brands are some of my favorite high quality fish sauce. See my post on how to choose good quality fish sauce for more info.
- Garlic
- Black or white pepper. White pepper is the default pepper used in Thai cuisine, but if you only have black, it will work fine.
Step-By-Step
Here's a bird's eye view of the process. If it's your first time, I recommend watching the video tutorial to ensure success!
- Smash the garlic with something heavy or the side of a knife and remove the peel.
- Then smash the peeled garlic until the cloves are broken into rough chunks.
- In a wok, sauté the garlic in some oil over medium heat until the edges are golden.
- Turn the heat to high and add the cabbage.
- Sprinkle in the pepper and drizzle the fish sauce.
- Toss the cabbage until the leaves look wilted, about 1 minute only. It's done!
Top the cabbage with a little more pepper and serve with jasmine rice!
Watch The Full Video Tutorial!
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video below to ensure success - and if you enjoy the show, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel. Thank you!
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Thai Garlicky Cabbage Fish Sauce Stir Fry
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 3 mins
- Total Time: 13 minutes
- Yield: Serves 2
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Stir-Fry
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Gluten-Free
Description
You only need 4 ingredients for the vegetable side dish, but it'll be a workhorse in your home because it's so simple yet so delicious. Comes together in minutes, and it'll go with any Thai or Asian meal!
Ingredients
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- 7 oz (200 g) green cabbage, cut into 2-inch pieces (see note 1)
- 1 Tbsp (15 ml) good quality fish sauce
- 8-10 cloves garlic
- ¼ tsp ground white or black pepper
- Neutral oil
- Jasmine rice for serving.
Instructions
- Smash the unpeeled garlic cloves with the side of your knife (or a pestle) until they are broken and bruised. Remove the peel, which should now come off easily, then roughly chop, keeping the pieces quite chunky.
- Heat a wok over medium heat and add just a little oil to coat the bottom.
- Add the garlic (no need to wait for the oil to get hot) and keep stirring the garlic until the garlic turns light golden around the edges - don't let them brown or the garlic will become bitter.
- Turn the heat up to HIGH then immediately add the cabbage and toss to get the leaves coated in oil.
- Drizzle the fish sauce over the cabbage then keep tossing for 1-2 more minutes, or until the cabbage is wilted but the stem parts are still crisp. Turn off the heat and add the pepper and stir to mix.
- Plate and garnish with an extra sprinkling of pepper, if desired. Serve immediately with jasmine rice. Enjoy!
Notes
- While regular green cabbage will work, I prefer Asian style cabbage as they have more delicate leaves that are slightly sweeter. More about Asian cabbage in the post above.
Pingo says
Great recipe and terrific combination. Also good is to use pointed (or sweetheart) cabbage. It has a more delicate tase than white cabbage and more savory than Chinese cabbage. Common in Europe but maybe not so much in N. America.
Sabina Boerescu says
OMG umami!
Fei says
I just want to say thank you so much for satisfying a craving for this simple, but comforting plate of cabbage/lettuce. It reminds me of my many visits to Thailand. I had to hold myself back from finishing the whole plate in one sitting.
DrMarkJ says
So simple, but so good. Great as a side-but I love this quick meal for lunch. I’ve seen similar recipes that add sugar, but since the cabbage is already sweet (and if you are serving with Jasmine rice), the sugar seems unnecessary. This recipe offers the perfect balance. Highly recommend trying this recipe.
Aluma says
I made these with napa cabbage and the effort to payout ratio here is unbelievable. So delicious! thank you for this recipe it's a keeper 🙂
Daniel says
I made this tonight to go with Pailin's Vietnamese Caramel Chicken. OMG, it's so good.
Anthony Weekley aka bianchiveloce says
I made the recipe early this morning for my upcoming lunches this week at work. I did deviate from the recipe in that I added a pack of Baby Portobello mushrooms. I've been on a serious mushroom kick now for a couple of months, just couldn't help myself to add them to the cabbage recipe. The finished dish is so very delicious. To complete my lunches for the week, I whipped up a Cuban side dish of Arroz Congri ( Black Beans with rice) to go along with the Thai Cabbage with Fish sauce to make it an international pairing.
Mrs H says
“8-10- garlic cloves” and “…lunches at work” are not good bedfellows. Do hope that you’re working from home this week!
Maddy says
Made this yesterday with green cabbage and it was great! Does anyone know the name of the "asian style" cabbage or have a picture of it when it is intact and whole? I want to see if I can find it. Thanks! 🙂
Amanda says
I see it routinely at my Asian market, it's really noticeable- they look like a round green cabbage that someone smooshed down 🙂
Le Wang says
It's called "Korean cabbage" at my Chinese supermarket. It's a flattened sphere instead of a full sphere of the Western cabbage. It's less fiberous and ribby than the Western.
Mercedes says
Absolutely brilliant recipe. I made this last night with cabbage but since i am using my cabbage to make kimchee I used kale today and it was still good. I still prefer the cabbage but sacrifices had to be made since I had no idea I would be craving more today. It is really that good!
Tim Doughty says
It’s terrific! This will be a standard go-to when I want a side dish but don’t feel like working hard.
Mark says
I first had this almost 2 years ago at a small seaside restaurant on Ko Sichang (the main dish was Tamarind shrimp) but they added bits of bacon to it! It's now a favorite of mine because it's so easy to make.
Frank says
Hi. Really appreciate your recipes and enjoy your channel.
Totally irrelevant to the recipe: I just want to mention that if you are standing maybe two or three inches taller when you stir fry, would your cooking be more comfortable?
flash gordon MD says
I previously tried making this with some pre minced garlic from a jar. Worthless. This time I did it the right way and it was wonderful! I used a lot more pepper than I did let the previous time: I used the red boat fish sauce unlike the cheap stuff from before, and I am so glad I did!
The only downside is that I'll have to take a lot more Beano, so the cats will continue to sleep in the bed.
It's worth it!
Jai says
I love this technique with every vegetable I've tried so far - it's even good with cucumbers instead of cabbage. It's often served with scrambled eggs as the protein, too. One of my absolute favorite vegetable dishes here in Thailand.
Tina says
Barely a recipe, but stupid good as advertised.
This is essentially just how asian people cook food at home. Stirfry with soy sauce + garlic, done. In this case it happens to be fish sauce, white pepper, and garlic.
I like the suggestion of leaving large chunks of garlic to soften. Not only does it save a ton of work, it tastes great, just as described.
Ella says
Amazing how a dish can be so good when it is so fast and has so few ingredients!
Scott Pringle says
By far the easiest recipe to make with the most flavor!