Thursday 1 October 2015

RED CABBAGE STIR FRY WITH COCONUT

RED CABBAGE STIR-FRY WITH COCONUT

Kerala style Cabbage Thoran



Kerala, which is a state in India, situated on the western coast of India is so beautiful because of its greenery, beaches, and backwater canals. Kerala is also called “God's own country” because the land is so beautiful, surely the Gods must reside here. Kerala is famous for its magnificent beaches surrounded by coconut trees, which attracts a lot of foreign tourists. Kerala is also known as “Land of Spices” because many spices are grown here. It’s hot and humid climate is suitable for the growth of many spices. Black pepper is largely grown in Kerala, which is used all over the world in almost all cuisines, as well as cashew nuts and cardamom.


This stir fry which I made with coconut and curry leaves is a Kerala style vegetable, which is called “Thoran”. This word thoran is used for many other vegetables also like green beans, cabbage etc when these vegetables are thinly sliced, stir fried and made with shredded coconut (you can use desiccated coconut too) and curry leaves and few other ingredients. In Kerala, they eat this with rice and any sort of curry like sambhar or rasam etc. But people in north India like me can eat any vegetables with roti, chapatti, naan or paratha. The reason behind this is that wheat is the staple food in north India while rice is the staple food in the south and east India.


There are a few purple colour vegetables and fruits given to us by nature. Health specialists are always advising us to eat these purple colour vegetables and fruits, because of their enormous health benefits.


Though I have realised that there is a difference in the taste of green cabbage and red cabbage, but why not eat the red cabbage to get all the  benefits of its colour.



RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 small red Cabbage (500 grams) thinly sliced
  • 2-3 tbs of shredded coconut/dry desiccated coconut
  • 1 tbs mustard seeds
  • pinch asafetida
  • 2-3 red whole dry chilli (optional)
  • salt and black pepper to taste
  • 20 curry patta leaves (green)
  • 2 tbs coconut oil (any other oil)

METHOD

  • Heat oil on a medium flame in a frying pan.
  • Add oil, when hot add mustard seeds and asafetida
  • when seeds start popping, add red chili and green curry patta leaves, saute for few minutes.
  • Add cabbage and stir fry for few minutes, add salt (to taste) and black pepper, continue to stir fry till they are a bit soft but crunchy.
  • Add shredded coconut and mix well.
  • Serve hot as side dish with rice or roti, naan, dinner bun etc.


54 comments:

  1. Simple and delicious side..coconut flavors makes the dish yum

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  2. Very healthy and yummy dish !

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  3. A simple, tasty and a healthy one too...

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  4. This cabbage is just gorgeous with it's dark purple colors, and I can only imagine how it tastes with the coconut! Thank you for sharing this recipe and the description of your beautiful country!

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  5. Hi Sadhna,
    This sounds wonderful. I love red cabbage and adding the coconut sound great. I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & tweeted.

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  6. I love sauteed cabbage and the combination with coconut is intriguing, I am definitely trying it. Curry leaves are hard to find though, especially fresh ones. Thee is a subtle difference between green and purple cabbage isn't there? I also prefer the purple one shredded and eaten raw. Somehow it is sweeter to me.

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    1. Thanks Liz for visiting my blog and for your comment. Yes you can try, you will enjoy.

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  7. Healthy and yummy curry.love the colour.

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  8. Love this flavorful and delicious thoran..

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  9. I love cabbage salads all year around. Yum thanks for linking up with us today for Meatless Monday

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  10. I love red cabbage recipes....if only steve did too! I love the crunch, so this sounds delicious! Thanks for linking up :)

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  11. I would not think to put coconut with cabbage, but it sounds great! Thanks for the inspiration!

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  12. Red cabbage and coconut....I would not have thought of this combination. But why not? It looks very delicious and so good for you too.

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  13. Back after a vacation…Hope I did not miss a lot!! This looks truly delicious..I always love coconut scrape in my veggies!!

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  14. I always learn about such fabulous ingredients from your posts. I am going to have to search out the asafetida. Thanks for sharing on Creative K Kids Tasty Tuesdays. I hope you will join us again next week.

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    1. Thanks very much Audrey, I will join next week again.

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  15. WOW. What an unexpected combo. These most unexpected combinations always taste incredible!

    I hope you'll link up your post with Idea Box:
    http://milaslittlethings.com/2015/10/idea-box-thursday-link-party-31.html
    xx
    Mila

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    1. Thanks Mila, yes this is a great combination, I am sure you will enjoy it.

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  16. I love using red cabbage in recipes because of how pretty it looks and how good it is for us. What a lovely way to serve this healthy vegetable, Sadhna. Thank you so much for sharing this wholesome recipe with us at the Hearth and Soul Hop.

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  17. This looks so good and so healthy. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x

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  18. Your Red Cabbage Stir Fry with Coconut looks amazing! Hope you are having a great day and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

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  19. This sounds really good, and I love the purple cabbage in the photo, it looks as good as it sounds. I know I've said it before, but I love your stories. I looked up Kerala and I bet the beaches are incredible! We love fried green cabbage-actually sauteed, and we use both cabbages in stir fry. My daughter is a vegetarian so we are eating a lot more veggies, we always have eaten them-but now even more. And I just tried coconut milk for the first time, I'll be using it more often!!!

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    1. Thanks Nikki for your lovely comment. As your daughter is vegetarian, you can also check the recipe of mix vegetables in Kerala style, this is called Aviyal here-
      http://herbsspicesandtradition.blogspot.ca/2014/09/aviyal.html

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  20. I love the combination. Sound so delicious! Thank you for sharing it with us #pintorials

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  21. How yummy! Thank you for sharing your healthy and delicous Kerala style Cabbage Thoran on the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I'm pinning and sharing.

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  22. Yes I agree why not eat the purple cabbage when it has all those health benefits! Thanks for the delicious recipe to try :-) #frifree4all

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  23. This is so vibrant! A lovely entry for #ExtraVeg!

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  24. I love purple cabbage, this sounds like a delicious preparation! Thanks for sharing at What'd You Do This Weekend?!

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  25. what a lovely purple dish! I love frying in coconut oil as it always tastes so so good. Thanks for sharing with #ExtraVeg

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  26. This looks divine! I know what I’m making this coming weekend. It's really a perfect treat for my family.

    Can't wait mixing it with desiccated coconut which I got it from http://celebes.com

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    1. Thanks very much for your lovely comment and for visiting my blog.

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