When my wife turned 50 recently, I offered to cook her something. This was her only request: chap chye. It turned out fabulously well.

I will share with you what went into it.

First off, the cabbage I like to use is the white long cabbage from either Malaysia or China. It is sometimes called Napa Cabbage or Wong Bok. It is very cheap here. It has thick crispy stems which can be luscious and sweet when braised. I have tried other types of more expensive cabbage variations but I still prefer this. Just remember that the leafy part will cook faster than the stem. Tthe logical thing to do is to separate these two and cook the stems first. In fact, the key to good chap chye is to braise the cabbage well. It needs to be soft enough and yet not breaking apart.

For the mushrooms, the variety I like the most are Korean Shitake Mushrooms. I buy my dried shiitake mushrooms from the Yong To Fu stall (6-46,/47) at Lucky Plaza. It is thick, has a firm chewy texture and intense flavour. It is like a cross between Chinese and Japanese Shitake Mushrooms. You can sample the cooked mushrooms which they sell at the stall. During peak hours, the queue can be long.

As for the sauce base, for my Mum it was always white fermented bean curd (fu yi). And I agree with her. It just go so well with the white cabbage. I know the white beancurd is meant for dipping and the red variety for cooking. While generally true, the former is simply delicious for this recipe.

As for black fungus, the Tibet Wild Black Fungus is good. It is more expensive than the normal black fungus but it has a nice texture and there are no hard parts that needs to be trimmed and discarded. Remember that a small amount goes a long way when rehydrated. You can buy this fungus at medicinal Halls or online at Qoo10. 

As for bean curd sheets (foo chook) I used the flat variety which is normally used for desserts. The important thing is to deep fry it first. Likewise, the bean vermicelli needs to be fried first. 

You can add lily buds but I didn't for this lot.

Ingredients
serves 10

50g bean vermicelli
2 pieces dried beancurd sheets
15 Korean dried mushrooms
20 small Tibetan black fungus
2 long white Chinese cabbage (Wong Bak/Bok Choy)
6 pieces red fermented bean curds (2cm x 2cm cube), mashed finely
15 pieces of small dried scallops
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 liters of water
Sugar and salt
Coriander Leaves for garnishing

Braising in the wok