Among all the varieties of cabbage that I have tried, pechay is my favorite. Yes, pechay is a cabbage variety. When I was a kid, it was a mainstay in all nilaga (boiled beef or pork, generally) dishes. Later on, I would learn how good it is in stir fried dishes.
Earlier today, our former gardener came over with a treat — fresh pechay harvested from her own garden. The leaves were so fresh and perfect — no tears, no holes — and I wondered if they could be used as a wrapper. There were some chicken thigh fillets thawing on the kitchen counter and I decided to use them for the filling. You know, in the fashion of the Bicolano dish called pinangat where chopped seafood are wrapped in gabi (taro) leaves then cooked in coconut cream or milk. Did it work? Oh, yes. OH, YES!
Recipe: Chicken stuffed Chinese cabbage (a.k.a. pechay) in coconut cream
Ingredients
- 4 chicken thigh fillets (skin on), diced and sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper
- 10 large pechay leaves (use more if they are small)
- 2 tbsps. of cooking oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 finger chilis (optional), cut into thirds
- patis (fish sauce)
- 1 c. of coconut cream
Instructions
- Cut off the white stalks of the pechay — don’t throw them away though because you can use them for stir fries.
- Lay a pechay leaf (or two, if they are small) flat and place a tablespoonful or so of the seasoned chicken at the center. Roll up to secure the filling. Don’t worry too much if the wrapping appears loose.
- Repeat for the rest of the pechay leaves and chicken.
- Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan or wok (your cooking pan should be wide enough to hold the pechay parcels in a single layer.
- Saute the onion, garlic and tomatoes (and chilis, if using) until softened, about five minutes.
- Arrange the pechay parcels in the pan in a single layer.
- Pour in the coconut cream. Drizzle in about two tablespoonfuls of fish sauce.
- Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the coconut cream has curdled and the sauce is almost dry.
- To serve, arrange the parcels (curdled coconut cream and all) on top of hot rice.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
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I would LOVE to try that. In Albay, we cook that dish with tilapia and we call it ‘picadillo’.
Whole tilapia?
Yes mam. And we stuff in tomatoes and onions before wrapping it up with pechay. Arrange it in the pan, put in the coconut cream, onions, ginger, tomatoes, finger chilis and the rest of the pechay (stalks included). Then simmer it until cooked, just the way you did.
Ooooh, that sounds soooo good. Will try it over the weekend. Thanks, Yayi!
yummy you guys are making me want to leave my work and go home and start cooking. For sure ill definitely make this dish..hoping i can find fresh pechay at the 99 ranch market store..otherwise, can you suggest an alternative leaf i can use? will spinach work?
thank you
Spinach leaves are too small.
hi beth and connie, i was also thinking of an alternative and spinach came first. there are now fresh spinach leaves that are bigger, parang pechay na ang laki. we grew spinach in the garden last year and the leaves were too big, akala ko we cannot eat them anymore so we ignored them. but then i saw the same in the grocery store. FYI lang.
Thanks, Raqgold.
You can use Bok Choi, it’s a bit sweeter thank Petchay
I make this with ground pork or chicken. And I blanch the pechay leaves first before wrapping the ground meat mixture.
yummy, love peachy & coconut cream……will definitely cook this weekend…
thanks Connie…
typo error …. pechay….
Pwede rin peachy pechay hehehehe
thanks Connie for sharing this recipe, i’ve tried just today to make use of my holiday as off from work. it was really delicious, i just added some bits of ginger though. my husband keeps telling “it’s yummy”, while he eats. hehehe, thank you so much.
Hi, Miss Connie! I truly admire you and your gift in cooking. I must say… your dishes are delish!!! I cooked the chicken-stuffed cabbage in coconut cream one night this week. When my husband tasted it, he suddenly stopped– then put his hands together to applaud me. Wow. That’s a first in our two years of marriage. All thanks to you!
Tell that deserves a new set of cooking pans hehehehe
hi ms connie, i tried this recipe last night… SUPERB!!! My housemates were having ds weird look while looking at the food (cz i made the food presentation d same as you post here) And they were all asking wts d dish?… So i said ok taste it first… and then it was like… The look on their face after the first bite… wow It was really good,. I just followed the steps and chadhann!! I made a very delicious dinner thanks to you!!!