Cabbage stir fried with ginger, green chilli and some pretty basic seasonings. This South Indian style Cabbage fry recipe changes the way you feel about cabbage. It is a very simple recipe yet simply delicious, nutrient packed, ready on the table in less than 30 mins. If that's enough for you then get cooking now ! You won't regret !!
Cabbage ( also called patta gobi or bund gobi in some parts of India) is a very underrated vegetable. Popular opinion is that it is one of those vegetables that you have to constantly find new ways to make your family eat it regularly. I feel you guys !! As I have lived in few hostels during my college days, I very well know how tasteless can one make cabbage. We used to just skip our meals whenever it is cabbage day 😒 in our hostel.
Unfortunately it is not true. Any vegetable can be made delicious if you can just find the right way to cook it with the right seasonings/ combinations.
This is an Andhra style recipe of cabbage stir fry which is very simple yet super delicious when eaten with some rice, ghee and fryums or roti and yogurt. It is an everyday recipe that I am confident you will get into your weekly rotation once you try it.
Let's get cooking !!
Ingredients
It needs very basic ingredients that we usually always have ready at home. That is the beauty of these age old recipes.
- green cabbage medium to large size
- Ginger, green chillies, curry leaves
- Tempering ingredients ( also called Popu or Tadka )
- chana dal
- split urad dal
- mustard seeds
- cumin seeds
- Asafoetida ( Inguva ) , turmeric powder and salt
- Green peas ( matar )
- Coconut powder ( optional )
That's all you need.
3 Main tips for a delicious Cabbage fry
- Cut Cabbage very finely almost like shredded cabbage. Cabbage tastes very different depending on the way you cut it. If you have a food processor, use it to shred the cabbage or shred it with a knife using some arm work. This is the only real work in this recipe.
- Do not use red chilli powder or any kind of chilli powder. Cabbage tastes best when cooked with whole chillies. Green chillies are the best ( Serrano, jalapeno, thai chilli etc are all fine ). If you don't have green chilli, you can also try using whole red chilli.
- Do not cover and cook. Cabbage has lots of water ( 92 % ). If we cover the dish while cooking it will give you a boiled taste rather than a stir fry taste and might get mushy too since we shredded it very finely. That's not what we are aiming for here. We need a nice stir fried cabbage. So cook it uncovered on medium or medium high heat( around 6/10 flame ) all through except for when you are adding tempering ingredients or when its starts sticking.
Cabbage nutrition facts
Am sure you can google them yourself, but I thought I can save you couple minutes and take a chance of convincing you to incorporate cabbage into your everyday cooking.
- It is Cholesterol free, fat-free, low sodium and low calorie.
- Cabbage is a good source of potassium, folate, and vitamin K. Cabbage also provides some calcium, iron, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
- Cabbage is a nutritious vegetable that can boost your body's natural defenses against disease.
- Half of cabbage's carbs comes from fiber which makes it a heart healthy and well balanced food.
- With low carbs and high fiber, it is an excellent food for people with diabetes and helps keep blood sugar levels stable.
I can go on and on but these are some of the main facts. So let's make this mouth watering south Indian cabbage recipe to make this infamous vegetable famous🙂.
Variations
You can add other veggies like carrot or beans to this recipe to make it more nutritious and colorful. Make sure to cut all the different veggies you use here in the same sizes to avoid any uncooked vegetables.
If you don't like to get ginger or chilli pieces while eating, make a paste of ginger and chilli together and add it to the oil after tempering and before adding the cabbage.
How do I serve this?
Pair it with the Tomato pachadi | South Indian Tomato chutney and plain yogurt and serve it with rice and fryums to make it a simple and yummy andhra style meal or serve it with roti ( Indian flat bread ) and raita for a north Indian style meal.
Recipe
Cabbage fry Andhra style | Cabbage and green peas poriyal
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large green cabbage finely shredded
- 2 tablespoon oil coconut oil tastes good, but you can also use canola or such similar oils
- 1 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
- 3 to 4 green chillies split length wise Serrano, jalapeno, thai chilli etc.. any kind is ok based on your tolerance and availability
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp asafoetida optional, also called hing or inguva, skip if you are on a gluten free diet
- ⅓ cup of fresh shredded coconut or dry coconut powder optional but delicious addition
Tempering Ingredients :
- 1.5 teaspoon chana dal bengal gram
- 1.5 teaspoon split urad dal
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
Instructions
- Finely shred the cabbage ( see the picture above for reference ) either by using a food processor with thin shred option or with a knife using some muscle power.
- Chop the ginger into very small pieces. Split the green chillies length wise. ( Tip : If you split them lengthwise, it is easy to discard them while eating if you have young kids who cannot tolerate chillies ).
- Heat a pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp oil. When the oil is hot add chana dal, urad dal, cumin seeds and mustard seeds and saute them for few seconds until the mustard seeds crackle and the dals starts to turn slightly golden brown.
- Add chopped ginger, green chillies and curry leaves and saute for few more seconds. If you don't like to get ginger or chilli pieces while eating, make a paste of ginger and chilli together and add it to the oil after tempering and before adding the cabbage. Both ways taste excellent. I do the first way so I can remove couple chillies mid way to reduce the spice for my kids.
- Now add turmeric powder and asafoetida ( optional if you are on gluten free diet ) and stir everything well. ( Tip : Adding turmeric to the oil before adding any veggies helps in incorporating it well into the veggies easily ).
- Add shredded cabbage now and stir well. Cook uncovered over medium high heat while stirring frequently to avoid burning.
- Add salt to taste to get the water out of cabbage and help it cook faster. Cook until cabbage is softened and almost cooked.
- Now add green peas ( I used frozen green peas, you can use boiled fresh peas too ) and stir well.
- Now add coconut powder if you are using it and stir well. You can skip it if you want but it is a delicious addition.
- Finally taste it to check the salt and see if it is cooked well and add chopped cilantro to garnish.
Notes
- Make sure to shred cabbage really finely for an excellent stir fry.
- Cabbage cooks really fast, especially when finely shredded. So keep a close eye on to avoid mushy cabbage.
- Avoid using any kind of chilli powder. Cabbage tastes best when cooked with whole green chilli ( split lengthwise ) or red chilli ( cut into 1 inch pieces ) if you don't have green chilli.
- Instead of adding chopped ginger and chilli pieces, you can also make ginger chilli paste and add it to the oil along with the tempering before adding the cabbage.That way, you won't get ginger and chilli pieces in your mouth if you don't like them that way.
- Cook it uncovered to get the stir fried taste and avoid boiled taste.
- You can add other veggies like carrot or beans to this recipe by cutting them into really small pieces as cabbage and adding them at the same time as cabbage. It makes the dish more nutritious and colorful.
Don't forget to pin to to your favourite board on pinterest for later. Leave me a comment below to let me know how did this recipe turn out for you and also to ask any questions.
Srija says
This is the best ever cabbage recipe! Not fan of cabbage as I don’t like the smell of it. I’ve shredded it as tiny as possible and it didn’t give any raw smell. Adding ginger just made it even tastier. Thank you so much for the lovely recipe
Yamini says
I am with you on the smell and shredding it really helps with the smell. I am glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Pamela Vangiessen says
Wonderful recipe. I have a question about the Chana dal and the split urad dal. I used the amounts specified and followed all the steps as outlined in the recipe. However the dals did not soften. I assume they are supposed to soften. What do I need to do to get them to soften? Soak them first, or stir fry them longer? Please advise. Will definitely make it again.
Yamini says
Thank you, Pamela, am glad you enjoyed the recipe. Chana dal and split urad dal are added to give a slight crunch to the cabbage fry. They are supposed to stay crunchy and not soften. This is Indian-style tempering and is added to many different dishes. However, if you do not like the crunchy dals in the cabbage fry, then you can certainly skip them. My husband does not like too much tempering too, I just add very little of them or skip them in some recipes.
Dominique says
This is an absolutely fabulous and delicious dish! Great work!
Yamini says
Thank you Dominique! I am glad you enjoyed it.