Red cabbage stir fry

We have made our red cabbage stir fry at the Bombay Cook Club a few times recently and have many requests for the recipe.  It's so easy, so healthy and so tasty... full of nutrient packed ingredients like mustard seeds, turmeric and ginger.  Red cabbage is one of the healthiest veggies you can eat, full of anti-oxidants and properties that can assist in the prevention of cancer and heart disease.  It is also low in calories, and full of immune system boosting vitamins like vitamin C.

You can use pretty much any vegetable as a substitute for the cabbage, including potatoes, cauliflower, peas, capsicum and zucchini.  Just make sure you adjust cooking times to suit. 

Here below is how you make it:

1/3 to ½ a red cabbage, finely sliced (you can use a ready cut bag of coleslaw mix for convenience too)

1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 stalk of curry leaves (optional)

1 tablespoon of grated ginger

1-2 green chillies (to taste), sliced vertically down the middle

½ teaspoon of black mustard seeds

½ teaspoon of cumin seeds

½ teaspoon of turmeric

½ teaspoon of salt (to taste)

Sprinkle of black pepper

Juice of a lemon

Fresh coriander to garnish

Heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan and fry the curry leaves for a minute or so, then add the mustard seeds, followed a few seconds later by the cumin seeds.  These ingredients will start to spit and pop, then add the green chilli and ginger and fry for a minute or two. 

Add a handful of cabbage and then put in the turmeric powder (so it doesn’t burn directly in the oil), then keep adding the cabbage, stir-frying quickly so it doesn’t overcook and stays a bit crunchy.  Cook for a couple of minutes then turn off the heat.  Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and add salt, and a grind of black pepper, to taste.  Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot.

Spicy vegetable dal

I eat spicy Indian food all year round, but in winter it really becomes comfort food. This spicy, vegetable laden dal is a great way to up your veggie intake and use up everything in the fridge, you won't be able to stop eating it.  Best of all, I make this version with no oil... so it's a good everyday guilt-free meal.

For four serves of dal, you will need:

1 cup of toor dal, moong dal or red lentils (most dals will do)

4-5 cups of water

1 red onion

2 tomatoes

1-2 green chillies

A selection of vegetables: I used zucchini, pumpkin, eggplant and silverbeet

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1/2 a teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of tamarind paste, or the juice of at least one lemon

Fresh coriander to serve

Wash and rinse your dal well, and soak it in about 4 cups of water for half an hour to a few hours. Bring it to boil in a large pan, and once it is boiling, skim all the scum from the top and discard.

Have all your vegetables cut into large chunks, and add them now.  Add the cumin seeds, salt and turmeric, lower heat, cover and leave to simmer for about an hour.

This dal is done when everything is lovely and mashed up looking.  You can now blend it, or just mash any large pieces of vegetables up with a potato masher.  At this stage I like to put in some greens - silverbeet or spinach, and cook for another 10 minutes or so.  Taste the dal, add more salt if needed, and the tamarind or lots of lemon juice.

If you want to add a tarka, at this stage you can heat some ghee, fry some more onion till it is brown, garlic, curry leaves, mustard seeds and more cumin seeds, and add it to the dal.

Serve with lots of fresh coriander.  When I made this dal, I coated some Japanese eggplant in olive oil and salt and grilled it, then used it to garnish the dal... it was delicious.

If you're like me you will eat this all winter... sometimes I freeze portions and heat with a bit of extra liquid so I can drink it like soup.

Enjoy!