Five Minute Indian-Style Cabbage - Recipe
This cabbage side dish is great to have in your arsenal, because it comes together in 5 minutes flat, and makes a big and flavorful addition to an Indian spread. I break out some variation of it when I'm making a curry, rice and raita and feel the need for one more dish to round out the meal.
Everything in the cabbage family (brassica) goes great with mustard, so mustard seeds are the primary flavoring. If you happen to have mustard oil, you can use that instead of the vegetable oil. Be sure and have all of chopping done and your spices measured in advance, because once the mustard seeds hit the hot oil, you have to move quickly.
Five Minute Indian-Style Cabbage
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or ghee (clarified butter), or mustard oil, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 head green cabbage, cored and sliced thin (about ¼” wide strips)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- optional: garlic, ginger, unsweetened shredded coconut, fresh chilees or dried chile flakes, garam masala
- optional garnish: cilantro, lemon juice
- Heat a large skillet or wok over a medium-high flame. Add the oil, wait 10 seconds, and immediately add the mustard seeds.
- As soon as they start to pop, pull the skillet off of the heat and add the cumin, turmeric and cayenne and any optional ingredients and stir for 10 more seconds. Move quickly here so you infuse the flavor in the oil but don't burn anything.
- Add the cabbage and salt, return to the heat and raise the heat to maximum. Stir-fry until crisp-tender (about 1 minute) or tender (about 2-3 minutes), according to your preference. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Garnish with cilantro and/or lemon juice and serve immediately.
