Essentially a simplified sauerkraut and a very light pickle. Use good-quality soy sauce and serve this as a side dish with Japanese or other Asian food. Do not try to make this in very hot weather; fifty or sixty degrees is ideal. Other vegetables you can prepare this way: any mixture of vegetables, as in the variation.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 10 servings

　　One 2-pound head of Napa cabbage

　　1/4 cup coarse salt

　　1 small dried chile, seeded and minced

　　Good-quality soy sauce, optional

　　

Step 1

Trim the cabbage of hard parts and discard any discolored leaves; chop the rest into pieces no bigger than 2 inches along any dimension. Toss in a nonmetal bowl with the salt and chile.

　　

Step 2

Cover with plastic wrap and a plate that will fit inside the bowl; weight the plate as well as you can with cans, a rock, or a resealable plastic bag filled with water. Let sit, unrefrigerated, for a day or longer, tossing the cabbage occasionally and draining liquid as it accumulates.With each passing day, the cabbage will become softer and more translucent; you can eat it at any stage. When it reaches the stage you like, refrigerate. Serve as a small side dish, with or without soy sauce.

　　

Mixed Pickled Vegetables

Step 3

You can treat an assortment of vegetables the same way. Combine, for example, thinly sliced cucumbers, thinly sliced carrots, and peeled and thinly sliced turnips. Eggplant, onion, and radish (especially daikon), all peeled and thinly sliced, are also good. You can also add trimmed and chopped scallions, peeled and thinly sliced garlic, and/or a few slices of peeled fresh ginger to the mix.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.