Cabbage is one of my favourite vegetables, pretty much no matter how it’s cooked – as long as that doesn’t mean cooking it to a stinky sulphur-y mush. I don’t care much for white cabbage, because (in my opinion) it’s stinkier and sulphur-ier than green cabbage. (It might not be any more or less smelly, you understand - I’m just quoting the opinion put forward by my nose). Purple cabbage is kinda like white cabbage except purple… and because it’s a pretty colour for cabbage, I don’t shun it.
But the cabbage I use the most is a pointy, tear-drop shaped green cabbage marketed under the name “sweetheart cabbage” in the supermarkets here. That said, I quite like the round green kind too. But sweetheart by name, sweetheart by taste – no, ok, that simile doesn’t work. There’s a good reason I’m not a world-famous writer, I suppose.
Anyway, those are the three types of cabbage available - unless you count the round green cabbage as a different variety from the pointy green one… in which case, the cabbage count goes from three to four. I’m sure that, like potatoes, there are hundreds of different varieties of cabbage, all of which have individual names, again like potatoes. I probably just don’t know about them.
So, coming back to what I do know (a much shorter topic, haha), which is that I love cabbage, what I made with a combination of green and purple cabbage was a luvverly rice dish. With added peas. There's hardly anything that doesn't benefit from the addition of peas, unless it's a cake. Although I bet someone somewhere has tried a green peas cake and written about it on their blog... Ok, I'm off to google for green peas cake now, but you please feel free to read my recipe below and try it out, because it's really, really tasty - especially if you're a cabbage enthusiast like me.
Recipe for: Cabbage and peas rice
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked basmati rice
3 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
a few fresh/frozen curry leaves
Salt to taste
Peanuts and chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
For the masala powder:
1/2 tsp oil
1 htsp urad dal
1 htsp tuvar dal
1 htsp chana dal
1 htsp coriander seeds
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp shredded fresh or dry coconut
Method:
1. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a large pan.
Fry the masala powder ingredients (bar the coconut) over a low flame till the dals turn a pale golden brown, and the chillies are a shiny dark red. Remove to a plate and let cool.
2. Grind the cooled roasted dals along with the coconut to a fairly smooth powder.
Reserve.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the asafoetida powder, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Cover the pan and let the seeds pop.
4. Now add the shredded cabbage and peas and stir well.
Cover the pan tightly and let the vegetables cook on a very low heat for about 7 minutes, till the cabbage is cooked but still retains some bite.
5. Once the cabbage is done, add the ground coconut masala powder and salt to taste, and mix well.
6. Then add the rice and mix it in carefully until it is distributed evenly.
Add the chopped coriander (if using) and scatter the roasted peanuts over. Serve hot with cucumber raita and papad or crisps on the side.
RECIPE: CABBAGE AND PEAS RICE
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked basmati rice
3 cups cabbage, finely shredded
1/2 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder
a few fresh/frozen curry
Salt to taste
Peanuts and chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)
For the masala powder:
1/2 tsp oil
1 htsp urad dal
1 htsp tuvar dal
1 htsp chana dal
1 htsp coriander seeds
4-5 dried red chillies (or to taste)
2 tbsp shredded fresh or dry coconut
Method:
1. Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a large pan and fry the masala powder ingredients (bar the coconut) over a low flame till the dals turn a pale golden brown, and the chillies are a shiny dark red. Remove to a plate and let cool.
2. Grind the cooled roasted dals along with the coconut to a fairly smooth powder. Reserve.
3. Heat the remaining oil in the same pan and add the asafoetida powder, curry leaves and mustard seeds. Cover the pan and let the seeds pop.
4. Now add the shredded cabbage and peas and stir well. Cover the pan tightly and let the vegetables cook on a very low heat for about 7 minutes, till the cabbage is cooked but still retains some bite.
5. Once the cabbage is done, add the ground coconut masala powder and salt to taste, and mix well.
6. Then add the rice and mix it in carefully until it is distributed evenly. Add the chopped coriander (if using) and scatter the roasted peanuts over. Serve hot with cucumber raita.
