Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Spicy Cabbage and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

We're always looking for new ways to use cabbage. This recipe came in our farm share newsletter this week and since I had all the ingredients, it became dinner.


Spicy Cabbage and Potatoes in Tomato Sauce

Using Indian spices and tomato sauce with green cabbage makes this familiar vegetable into something entirely new. Serves 4-6.

2 TB vegetable oil or ghee
1 medium onion sliced thin
1/2 head thinly sliced cabbage
4 medium potatoes, chopped in a 1/2" dice
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp garam masala (or, 1/2 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)
pepper to taste
8 oz tomato sauce (see Veggie Storage and Use tips, above, to use your frozen tomatoes)
3 TB plain yogurt

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Saute onion for about 5 minutes, until starting to turn golden on the edges. Add cabbage and potatoes and sprinkle with salt. Continue to cook, tossing occasionally, for another 5 minutes until cabbage begins to wilt. Add garam masala (or spice mixture) and pepper. Toss to coat. Stir in tomato sauce. Bring to simmer, cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are soft, but not mushy. Remove from heat. Stir in yogurt. Serve with cooked rice or wheat berries.

I didn't really measure anything and added at least twice as much yogurt as the recipe calls for but didn't make other changes.

I served it with rice that I spiced up with some cumin seed. Just heat a little oil, then toss in some cumin seed for a couple of minutes then make the rice as usual with the cumin seed. It's lovely that way.

Verdict: Sam liked the potatoes and the rice but wasn't thrilled with the meal overall but I think that it was likely due to the fact that dessert was sitting right there and he couldn't see past it. Dinner always gets neglected when he knows there is dessert nearby.

Ben thought it would be better with some shrimp or chicken but agreed that it was good.

I liked that I couldn't really tell it was cabbage and it was flavorful without being hot. Good enough that I'm bringing some for lunch tomorrow.

3 comments:

Kimberly said...

Do you think a recipe like this could be frozen?

I have a similar one (I can't remember if I sent it to you) that makes a TON, but only uses about 1/2 a head of cabbage. I would like to do something like make it and make this, and freeze them, but I don't know how well cabbage freezes. What do you think?

Kimberly said...

forgot to do the follow up bit...

Anne V said...

I don't know Kimberly. It reheats in the microwave pretty well but I've never tried freezing something with cabbage. If you find out let me know!