Monday, August 20, 2007

I love cabbage!


In fact I've loved it for as long as I can remember! The green layer-y leafiness just looks so healthy! I would recommend it as a dietary staple to everyone who wants to eat healthy, although I have to admit that it is at its best during the winter months, when it is in season.
However, here is a recipe for a cabbage curry that can be enjoyed through the year. It is, again, a Bengali recipe so it requires the 'paanch phoran' that I use so much in all my cooking. It also uses ginger, tomatoes, and my garam masala, and the result is a mouthwatering mash that can be enjoyed with rice, roti, & even puri/luchi!

Ingredients:
Cabbage (one head of medium size) shredded
Potatoes - 3 to 4 of medium size cubed
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Dried red chillies - 3-4
Bay leaves - 2-3
Paanch phoran
Ginger paste - Half tsp
Garam masala powder (This is not the off-the-shelf stuff you buy but is actually a powder of green cardamom, cinnamon, and clove. It helps to take off the overpowering leafy smell of the cabbage.)

Method
:
Heat oil in a kadhai and add bay leaves, dried red chillies, and paanch phoran. Let it splutter and add the ginger paste, and potatoes, and keep frying. Add tomatoes to this and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the shredded cabbage and stir. The cabbage will give off water and will keep shrinking in size. You can salt salt to this, but go easy because the cabbage will continue to shrink and you don't want to end up with too much salt in your cabbage curry. Add a little sugar too, for taste.

Cover the kadhai, the cabbage will continue to cook in its own steam. You can uncover once in a while to check how much of the cabbage has boiled, and to ensure that the curry does not dry up and stick to the bottom of the kadhai. Unless it's not a fresh cabbage, you will not need to add more water to this, but if you really want a nice mash, you can add some water to this. Check for salt, and add the garam masala.

Before you take this off the fire, see to it that no water remains and your curry is nice and of a pasty-solid consistency. Remove from heat and serve hot.

Note: You can also add peas to this, it tastes lovely!

1 comment:

dharmabum said...

i love cabbage. i think i'm going to bum some of the masalas off you and then try this one out...