Indian Style Cabbage Coleslaw!

No more heavy jackets, mits and woolies!! Spring is here!! While there still a nip in the air, bright sunshine and stretches of daffodils and tulips light up the mood. I am been soaking in the most missed sun for such a long time.. With such an uplifted mood, I made a promise to myself to have a proper square meal at least twice a week. A very busy life during the week, does not leave too much time for leisurely cooking, and we end up eating a lot of ready to eat food. If my mother comes to know, she will not approve of the fact that we don't get enough time to eat or cook our selves some healthy meal. I tend to agree with her and am sure everyone can squeeze an hour from their hectic schedule to cook some nice meal, however instead, we try and utilise it for an extra hour of sleep! Nothing wrong with that, but will it be too much to ask to try using that 1 hour to cook once during the week??
      I have been using the same vegetables over and over again, when there is such a huge variety of vegetables during this time of the year. This year I am going try and make an attempt to eat all kinds of vegetables, even the ones I don't like at all! While saying this was easy acting on it is turning to be quite a task. I was navigating my shopping cart to usual spots in the vegetables section and there it is was, a fresh head of leafy cabbage (patta gobi or Kobi as they call it back home) crying out loud,"Remember your promise!!". I felt really stressed and guilty of not sticking to my promise, so with a heavy heart, I picked up the cabbage and headed home :-)
     All the way home, I was thinking, my new found friend, Mr. Cabbage is going to need a lot of help to render that lovely taste. Cabbage by itself has a very bland taste and a nauseating smell! I kept thinking of various things that can help Mr. Cabbage make its way to our plates and I think, I had some things I found, that I could throw in to make a likeable dish!
I got to the kitchen, and started shredding the cabbage into nice long fine shreds, and my husband stepped in, and said man its the damn cabbage! Am sure I don't need to say, everyone knows the repulsive smell that cabbage gives out even while slicing it up! This wasn't helping my determination to make this into something edible. However I decided to ignore my hubby and wanted to give it a go.
The recipe I am about to write is an Indian style Cabbage stir fry and trust me, it was worth all the effort and it sure did make its way to our main course of Sunday lunch!
Here is what you need to make this yummy stir fry, this sure looks like a long list, but its worth trying it once:

1. White small head of leafy Cabbage (makes enough for 2 with some left over)
2. 3 shallots (small sweet onions)
3. A sprig of fresh curry leaves, dried are also good enough.
4. A pinch of grated ginger
5. Freshly chopped coriander and basil
6. 1 tea spoon of white lentils
7. 1/4 tea spoon of mustard seeds
8. 1/4 tea spoon of fennel seeds
9. A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
10. 1/2 tea spoon coriander powder
11. 1/4 tea spoon cumin powder
12. 1/2 tea spoon garam masala
13. A pinch of ground black pepper
14. A good 2 pinches of turmeric powder
15. 3 nice hot green chillies
16. 1/4 cup of grated coconut / 2 tbls spoons of coconut cream if fresh coconut is not available.
17. Lemon Juice to taste
18. Cashew nuts for garnishing (skip if you want to make a healthy meal)
19. 2 table spoons of Olive Oil / Sunflower Oil (try and make it as healthy as you can)
20. Salt to taste.
21. A good pinch of sugar

Lets get cracking!

1. Shred the cabbage length wise and as thin as possible, we just need to toss the cabbage in the when all the spices have been mixed well and singing. Intention is to retain a little crunch in the cabbage not cook it down completely.
2. Slice the shallots finely length wise. If you don't find shallot a regular red onion is also good enough.
3. Slit the chillies in the center length wise. If you want the stir fry really spicy, use finely chopped chillies.
4. Coarsely chop the coriander and basil leaves together.
5. Take a nice big wok, so that you get a good space to mix you veggies togther.
6. Heat up the oil and add mustard seeds and white lentils together. Stand away from the hob, they are going to go crazy and sputter once they touch the hot oil. Once the sputtering stops, turn the heat down to sim.
7. Add curry leaves and chillies, again stand at a distance, chillies tend to explode as well.
8. Add the grated ginger and wait till it turns a little brown. You are going to face a lot of sputtering until all our spices going in, but its all for a good cause :-)
9. Add turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, asafoetida, salt, sugar (sugar helps accentuate the sweetness of the cabbage)
10. Give a good mix, cover the the pan for a min, while all the spices mix well and get fried properly. You don't want the uncooked spices, it will ruin the taste of your stir fry.
11. After the spices have been mingling for a while, add the grated coconut and stir nicely. let is sit for some time, till it absorbs the spices well.
12. Add the shredded cabbage and stir in well. Turn the hob to high heat at this point and keep stirring the cabbage till it looses all its water. Make sure you don't overcook the cabbage. You have made a lot of effort so far make sure you retain that crunch to enjoy the cabbage in its true sense.
13. Once the stir fry is ready add a healthy amount of lemon juice. Add a juice of entire lemon if you like a bit of a tang. Else squeeze lemon to taste.
14. Garnish the stir fry with some cashew nuts and basil leaves.

Tip - You can add grated carrot to lift the cabbage as well, add a cup of grated carrots to the stif fry, tastes equally good!

I have not forgotten, what I said about the square meal. This stir fry can be enjoyed with chapatti or thepla (paratha wtih fenugreek leaves) or with Rice and daal with stir fry on the side. As for me, I made thepla, spinach dal (lentils) and plain boiled basmati rice with a trickle of ghee and mango pickle!

I had a very satisfying lunch and converted myself and my husband to like cabbage, can't get better than that I guess :-)

Hope you enjoy yourself, do post your comments or alternative tips or recipes for our Mr Cabbage!