Ingredients: Chinese cabbage, 1 can of cream of chicken, chopped ham, chopped green onion, salt, cheese (melting with heat, such as cheddar mozzarella or American cheese)

Prep time: 8 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes stovetop

Bake time: 10 minutes in oven

材料：大白菜、雞粒奶油湯罐頭、火腿粒、葱花、鹽、遇熱會融化的起司(如美國起司、切達奶酪、馬蘇里拉奶酪）

準備時間：8分鐘 烹煮時間：25 分鐘 爐上

焗烤時間 ：10 分鐘 烤箱

Directions:

• Chinese cabbage washed and cut into big slices. 2-3 green onions washed and chopped. 1 ham washed and chopped. Open the can of cream of chicken.
• Get a large pot. First, put all the Chinese cabbage in the pot. Second, add chopped ham and green onions on top. Last, use a spoon to pour cream of chicken in the pot.
• Cover the pot on the stovetop and turn on medium heat, cook for 10 minutes
• Remove the cover, stir the cabbage well to make sure top cabbage going down to the bottom. (You can tell from the softness of the leaves.) Cover the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Keep the pot uncovered, add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir well and frequently to evenly cook the food inside. Cook for another 10 minutes or till Chinese cabbage is soft or the stem (white) part is turned a little transparent as shown in the picture below. Taste and add more salt if needed, depending on the quantity of ingredients and your personal taste. If not sure how much salt to use in the beginning , go for less amount and add more at this point.
• If you don’t have extra time and don’t care about matching the traditional name of this well known dish, this butter Chinese cabbage can be served at this time. If you choose to add cheese in the pot, place them in right before turning off the heat.
• Oven time to perfect this dish for the look: Preheat oven at 400 degrees F. Spoon cooked Chinese cabbage in an oven safe container. Make sure the level of the liquid is not higher than the cabbage.
• Evenly spread cheese to form a layer on top of the cabbage. The amount of cheese, the thickness of the cheese layer, is up to your preference. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes till cheese melted. Baking time will determine the top color of the dish, either golden, brown or golden brown, your choice. Just don’t burn the cheese.

作法：

• 大白菜冼淨切成大塊，葱2-3根切成葱花，火腿切丁。打開雞粒奶油湯備用。
• 取1個有蓋的大鍋子，先放入大白菜，再放入葱花和火腿丁，最後倒入奶油雞湯。
• 鍋子加蓋，放在爐子上用中火煮10 分鐘
• 把鍋蓋打開，把大白菜攪拌均勻，尤其是把上層的白菜拌到下層，從白菜的軟硬度可以判斷，把較硬較乾的白菜拌到下面。蓋上蓋子再煮5分鐘。
• 打開鍋蓋，加大約1 小匙鹽。然後一邊煮一邊攪拌，約再煮10分鐘，或直到白菜煮軟，可以看到白色莖的部分變成半透明狀，如上圖所示。這時嘗嘗味道，如有必要再多加點鹽。如果不確定鹽的量，一開始不要加太多。因為鹽的量會隨著大白菜的量和個人口味而有些差異。
• 如果你沒有太多時間，也不在乎這道焗烤奶油白菜是否名符其實，此時加入起司(也可以選擇不加), 將爐火關掉之後，這道菜就可以上桌了。
• 放入烤箱焗烤，能讓這道菜完美呈現。先將烤箱溫度設在華氏400度預熱。取一個能放入烤箱的容器，把大白菜和湯汁用湯匙裝入，注意湯汁不要超過白菜的高度，如上圖。
• 把起司均勻的灑在白菜上，鋪成一層，起司層的量和厚度可按照你個人喜好而定。放入烤箱烤約10分鐘，只要起司融化即可。烤的時間和表面顏色有關，可以烤成金黃色或是帶點焦黃，都很好看。不過要注意不要烤焦。

Note: My kids love this dish because its cheesy flavors. I love this dish because it looks complicated, but actually very simple to make. This type of recipes make me a big chef in our friends’ eyes. Hahaha.

When Chinese cabbage is cooked, a lots of juice will gradually come out from it. I first place the cabbage in the pot to prevent ham or green onions are burned in the bottom without water in the pot. It takes time, not long though, for salt to dissolve in liquid and get into the food. When you add salt to the food at last, you may judge the taste before salt entering the food. So I add the estimated amount of salt (slightly less than the amount, to be exact) to the liquid earlier. Then add more at the end to the taste.

筆記：我兩個小孩都很喜歡這道菜，因為它的起司口味。我喜歡這道菜，因為它看起來很複雜，其實做法很簡單。這類的食譜讓我成為朋友眼中的大廚，可以享受敬佩的目光。你如果羨慕的話，可以試試。哈哈！

大白菜煮了之後，會有很多水跑出來。我把白菜放在鍋子最下面，可以避免葱或火腿在底部燒焦。用鹽調味時，因為鹽溶解滲透入食物中需要時間。時間雖然不長，但若是最後起鍋前才加鹽，因為時間太短，調味不容易準確。我通常會在早一點時，將鹽加入湯汁中，比估計的量略少些，起鍋前再嘗嘗味道，決定再加多少鹽，這樣調味後就對了。