Easy, Peasy. Cabbage and Peas, Bengali Style, #Vegan and #Gluten Free

   I grew up as a city kid in San Francisco before the time of crazy real estate prices and the influx of Silicon Valley Money. We lived in a working class neighborhood, where houses like the one I lived in most of my early life now sell for gazillions of dollars. Money was tight around our house and Thursdays (payday) were a big deal. My mom would go out and buy meat. Big whoop! Between paychecks we ate a lot of vegetables, unfortunately, most of them frozen as those were cheap and easy to fix. We also had a LOT of those 98 cent boxes (yeah I'm dating myself) of Kraft Mac and Cheese. If a neighbor went fishing in the Bay the whole block got in on the catch and we had fresh fish, but vegetables...not so much. One year I decided I'd attempt to grow some vegetables in our backyard such as it was. I bought seeds, planted them and at harvest time, got 2 zucchini and 1 pod of peas. That was the end of my "urban farming." It was back to Lima beans in a freezer bag and bell pepper surprise on the Wednesday before paydays.

   Flash forward to the present and I finally got my growing act together. I've always enjoyed foraging, both around the neighborhood in Santa Monica, and here in Sonoma, but this year we really got serious and planted a serious ass garden! When we bought our new house last year, besides doing interior renovation to make it water and energy efficient, as "green" as we could, we also took out the lawn and xeriscaped  both in front and in back. We put in 7 big raised growing beds, along with fruit trees, and this summer we started  reaping what we had sown.

   Here in Sonoma, there are a lot of farms so fresh vegetables are all over the place, but good organic stuff still can have a pricey sticker so we concentrated on planting things we loved and I cooked a lot in my Indian dishes. A lot of then veggies we grow are things that have a higher price tag in the markets. This Butternut squash for instance..all 8 and 1/2 lbs of it, organically grown, would coast 3 bucks a pound at the store, yet it's only one of the monsters I have in the garden. Prepare for a lot of squash recipes.

There are some vegetables however that are available very cheaply, and those I did not bother to plant, chief among these is cabbage.

   Cabbage is one of my favorite vegetables. It's amazingly versatile and can be found in almost every cuisine on the planet. There are a lot of cabbage dishes in the Indian kitchen most of them very easily, and inexpensively prepared. This Begali cabbage dish, aka Torkari is one of them. Just a note before starting. A very easy, in a cheap way, to fix this dish is to use bags of pre-shredded cabbage that are sold for coleslaw. These bags usually cost about 1 dollar and I recommend them for economy's sake for those who don't feel they'd like to commit to an entire cabbage. It's also a hell of a lot easier if you don't have the time or inclination to chop and shred. This dish can be on your table in under an hour which makes it a real keeper for work days.

Bengali Cabbage, Potato, and Peas

Here's What You Need:
1 cup of shredded fresh cabbage ( or 1 8 oz bag of preshredded coleslaw cabbage)
1 large boiling potato (cubed)
1 curry leaf (optional)
1 tsp cumin seed
1/2 cup of green peas (fresh or frozen)
3 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
1 large tomato fresh or 1 16 oz can of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp kashmiri chili
2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala


Here's What To Do:

Traditionally, this dish is cooked by frying the uncooked potato in oil but I find if one wants to reduce the amount of oil in a dish, this isn't the greatest idea. Potatoes like eggplants tend to really soak up the oil, so what I do is quickly boil or steam the potato while I'm chopping up the other ingredients. This takes about 15 minutes. Cut the potato in quarters and drop it unpeeled in some water, by the time it boils it'll be pretty much cooked. When it's fork tender, it's ready.  Drain it, run cold water over the cooked pieces and set it aside to cool.

Place the grated cabbage in a bowl and pour cold water over it to cover.

Set it aside to soak for 30 minutes.
Peel the cooled, cooked potato.

Chop the potato into cubes.

Set them aside.
Make the ginger paste. Cut a 1 inch piece of raw peeled ginger into thin slices.

Place the ginger slices into a grinder along with the ground cumin, turmeric...

...and Kashmiri chili.

Add a teeny bit of water...

...and grind it into a paste.

That is your ginger paste.
Slice the fresh tomato, then chop it. This one is right out of our garden.

 
When the cabbage has soaked for 30 minutes, drain it.

 Heat 3 Tbs of vegetable oil in a skillet or kadhai. I use Sonoma Harvest Organic Coconut Oil.

When the oil is hot toss in the cubed potato.

Since the potato is already cooked, you just want to stir it around a bit so it crisps slightly.
Now, add in the curry leaf (if you are using it) and the cumin seeds.

When the cumin seeds start to sizzle add in the chopped tomato.

Stir it around toss in some salt to taste.

Cover the pan, and cook the tomato until it's soft.
When the tomato is nice and soft add in 1 tsp of the ginger paste.

Cook, stirring things around until they're well mixed and the oil in the pan starts to separate from the spices.
Add in the peas...

...and the drained cabbage.

Mix everything together well, then turn down the heat, cover the pan and let things simmer for about 20 minutes.
Take the lid off the pan, and if you have a lot of water coming off the cabbage, turn the heat up and let the water evaporate from the pan.
When the water has evaporated toss in the garam masala, and the sugar. Check for seasoning. Add more salt if necessary.

If you  are not vegan, at this point you can drizzle 1 melted tablespoon of butter or ghee over the finished dish before serving. This is not required however.
Serve it up!

   Spicy, sweet and crunchy, this is a delicious dish that requires nothing more than some rice and chapatti for an easy Indian lunch, or you can pair it with any Western meal for a great and inexpensive side. I love cooking with cabbage almost any time of year and those little bags of coleslaw cabbage are a real money and time saver. Coming up next a very special dessert, care of CocoaPlanet Chocolate. Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori

Cabbage and Fennel. A Taste Of Spring Fast And Easy.

   This time of year it's all about the easy. After the splash and indulgence of the holidays comes this little window, this hammock of the year where the only holidays that come along don't involve the massive consumption of food and drink. I mean when was the last time you heard someone say "Dude, I was so wasted on President's Day!" of course there is always Valentines Day with it's chocolates and champagne or whatever else floats your boat. But as they say in polling... that's an outlier, and there's nothing but a long stretch of weeks till those notoriously overindulgent holidays that mean chocolate eggs, marshmallow peeps and noodle kugle. Yes, Easter and Passover, I'm talking about you.
  
   So the bulk of January, February, and March are the horse latitudes of eating. It's a good thing too or we'd all be living in Snuggies and Pajama Jeans 24/7. That's why this time of the year, I'm always looking for simple, easy, cheap, and above all healthy ways of eating. This is where the cabbage comes in. Cabbage, that thing that's always talked about as stinking up rooms in Dickensian novels, is actually pretty underrated in the American diet. Sure there's cole slaw, and all the things that accompany it, hot dogs, ribs, burgers, etc. but as an actual vegetable without any fried food around as arm candy, it's not taken advantage of often enough. Well, it's time for a change.
  
   I discovered non-cole slaw style cabbage when I started cooking Indian food 22 years ago. There are all sorts of cabbage recipes in Indian cuisine. From North to South, East to West, no matter where you look, you'll find the leafy green stuff. When I went to market the other day, I was going to buy some cabbage and prepare the classic Indian dish Bhuni bandh gobi or Cabbage with Fennel Seeds. I bought one of those small bags of prepared cole slaw and was about to leave when I noticed one of my favorite springtime vegetables, fresh fennel.

I thought if cabbage with fennel seed was good, cabbage with whole fresh fennel would be even better and I decided to give the recipe a tweak in the name of fresh. Inexpensive too as it turns out as the fennel cost me all of $1.49. I was in business.

    

Cabbage With Fennel

Here's What You Need:
   
One 1/2 lb bag of prepared shredded cabbage or 1/2 pound of cabbage washed and shredded.
2Tbs of vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)
One fresh fennel bulb, washed, trimmed, and thinly sliced.
3/4 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of sesame seeds
1 medium onion cut in  half and thinly sliced
1 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of Kashmiri chili or 1/8 tsp of cayenne mixed with 1/8 tsp of paprika
1 Tbs of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of garam masala


  
Here's What To Do:

Heat the oil in a kadhai or skillet.
When the oil is hot, add in the cumin seeds and the sesame seeds.
As soon as the seeds start to crackle, toss in the sliced fennel, and the thinly sliced onion.

Stir it all around for about 5 minutes or so until the onion has started to brown. 
Then add in the cabbage.

Stir the cabbage around for about 6 minutes or so until it's well wilted and a bit browned.
Add in the salt and Kashmiri chili or cayenne mixture.
Turn the heat down and continue to cook everything for another 8 minutes or so until the onions start to caramelize a bit.
Add in the lemon juice and the garam masala.

That's it. Serve it up with any rice or vegetable dish. It also works well with any sort of Western style meal.

   Like I said, easy fast, cheap and unlike a lot of stuff that fits in to that category, actually good for you.
 
   What else is brewing around here? Dosa school, that's what.  The one Indian specialty I've never attempted in all these years. So what got me off my lazy non-dosa making ass? The way all knowledge comes, by hard necessity. I've  been forced to learn since my favorite dosa joint OM bit the big one and went under a couple of months ago. Nowadays, if I want dosas I'm goiing to have to make them myself.

  So that's been my days, writing, practicing my dosa wrist flipping technique, and hanging with Johnny Depp, the neighbors' cat.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori
 

What To Do With Those Little Bags Of Shredded Cabbage They Sell At The Market

We've all seen those little bags of pre-shredded cabbage at the market. They're sold as coleslaw, usually with a little packet of dressing included. I must admit that yes, I've purchased these. I toss out the dressing and make my own coleslaw with it. It just saves me the time and trouble of shredding a whole head of cabbage.
I'm so used to seeing these bags I thought there's nothing else that can be done with them..they're coleslaw right? Wrong. I'd found a recipe that looked interesting. Punjabi cabbage, I didn't feel like shredding all that cabbage on a hot Sonoma afternoon and so the little bag of coleslaw stuff.
This dish is very easy to make, spicy, and flavorful it actually could serve as a sort of coleslaw for any number of meals, not necessarily Indian.
Here's what I did with it.
Get:
1.) 1/2 an onion copped
2.) 1 shallot, chopped
3.) A 1 inch piece of peeled ginger
4.) 2 serrano chilis , take out the seeds and chop the chilis roughly
Put all of this in a food processor or chopper and chop it finely. You can also just do this with a knife. Don't turn it into a paste.
Set this aside

In an Indian Karahi, wok or deep skillet, heat about 3 Tbs of oil.
5.) When the oil is hot toss in the mixture you just chopped. Cook it down until it's soft but not browned.


6.) Toss in 1 tsp. of cumin seeds
7.) 1 tsp. of turmeric
Stir that around for a minute then put in your shredded cabbage. Here is where I used one bag of that pre-shredded coleslaw stuff.
8.) Stir that up till the leaves are all coated with the turmeric mixture.
Now toss in
9.) 1 tsp of salt
10.) 1/2 tsp of black pepper
11.) 2 tsp. of ground cumin
12.) 1 tsp. of ground coriander
13.) 1/4 tsp of kashmiri chili (if you don't have any mix up 1/8 tsp of cayenne with 1/8 tsp of paprika)
Coat your cabbage with these spices stirring then partially cover the pot and cook it up for about 10 minutes. Give it a stir every now and then, make sure it doesn't burn. You can add a Tbs of water or two to keep it from sticking.
14.) When it's all softened and cooked, add 1 Tbs of butter, salt to taste and serve.
As I said earlier, this is a really cool way to deal with all those bags of coleslaw cabbage you might run across and a great tasty and fast alternative to the same old same old. As Mikey used to say, "Try it, you'll like it"