Cabbage Santula

It seems like I am only posting for the Blog hop these days! A summer vacation with a 4 yr old almost hyper girl takes its toll. Dont get me wrong, I am enjoying it completely. Trips to the shopping centre (spending most of the time telling her to stay with me and not run, not to touch each & everything in a shop, explaining why we cant buy everything that we want and so on!), lots of drawing, colouring & crafts at home, kids movies (one every week!), play dates with her friends (giving me a chance to catch up with mine!) and just put simply – spending time with her.

But all those activities take time and I have hardly any left for anything else nowadays, so thanks to the Blog Hop this blog at least sees me once in 2 weeks!

This week I was paired with Mugdha who blogs at Cooking Fundas. A quick glance through her space and I realised that hers was a cuisine about which I knew very little apart from the odd Panch Phoron and mustard paste. And even though I know about these things, I hardly use them in my cooking. We are sometimes so set about making something in a specific way that it doesnt even cross our minds that there may be a different way of doing things. This was one of the reason I picked this particular recipe.

I have been making Cabbage Bhaji in a particular way since I care to remember and it was good to find a different way of making the same vegetable.

 

Cabbage Santula

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1/2 tblsp Oil
• 1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
• 1 tsp Panch Phoron (A mixture of Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, Nigella seeds, Fenugreek seeds in equal quantities)
• 1 tsp + 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1-2 Red Chillies (Depending upon the spice level)
• salt
• Fresh Coriander leaves

Method:

Mix 1 tsp of Turmeric Powder with water, enough to soak the shredded cabbage. Leave it aside for 5-10 minutes.

Heat the oil and add the Panch Phoron to it. As the seeds start to crackle, add the red chillies and then the chopped onion. Sauté for a minute and add the ginger-garlic paste. Fry this for another minute

Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and Turmeric Powder. Mix well and let it cook till the tomatoes turn mushy.

Drain the cabbage, squeeze out the water and add this to the hot pan. Mix well and cook on a medium flame till the cabbage is cooked.

Mix chopped coriander leaves and turn off the heat. Serve hot with Chapatis or as a side with Rice.

My Notes: This was a very delicious alternative to the cabbage bhaji that we are used to. I did wonder about the colour of the bhaji as the picture on Mugdha’s blog showed it to be almost red in colour but it might have been the quality of the turmeric powder or the quantity of tomato.

Simple Cabbage stir fry Bhaji

How long do you spend planning the menu each day? Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – do they dominate your thoughts throughout the day? Are you constantly thinking about how to use up the stuff lying in the fridge & how best to make use of them?

Please say yes to all the questions above & tell me that you too spend a lot of time thinking & planning the menu. It will rid me of the concern that I am overly obsessed with thinking about what to make for each meal. I sometimes think that I spend way more time making up my mind than actually cooking because once I have decided, its usually a breeze.

I might have exaggerated a bit there, its not the only thought going on but I do tend to be like that on some days. On one such day when I couldnt readily make anything ‘new’, I picked up the cabbage and made this simple stir fry which I have been making all the time, realising at the same time that I haven't blogged about it as well. You do tend to take such simple things for granted, dont you?

This is as simple as it can get and there is no exact science involved except that you have to get the quantity of salt right! This might be a good one to start with if you have never cooked a proper Bhaji before.

Cabbage Stir Fry Bhaji

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cabbage (coarsely chopped will do!)
1 Small Potato, cut into small cubes (optional)
1/2 cup Peas (optional)

2 Green Chillies, Chopped (adjust acc to taste)
1/2 tblsp Oil

4-6 Curry Leaves
1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
a Pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1-2 tblsp Grated coconut (Optional)

1 tblsp Chopped fresh Coriander
1/2 tsp Sugar (Optional)

Salt

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard seeds.

As they begin to splutter add the curry leaves, Hing, chillies & Turmeric Powder.

Next add the potatoes & fry for a minute. Add the cabbage and sauté.

Cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the Peas, salt and grated coconut. Cook covered till the cabbage & potato are completely cooked.

Add the chopped coriander, mix well, cover & cook for just another minute before turning off the flame.

Serve hot with Chapati or as a side dish with rice.

My Notes: This is my favourite way of having cabbage, a vegetable that is hated sometimes because of the strong smell. But the combination with potatoes & peas works very well although you can make the same bhaji using only cabbage.

If you do have a problem with the smell, the fresh coriander added at the last minute will solve it for you, making it aromatic.