Cabbage with Peas

Today V made his second vegetable dish from Sumana Ray's "Indian Vegetarian Cooking". The last one from the same book "Mushroom with Potatoes and Onions" was probably one of my favorite creations by V. The cabbage with peas was not only healthy but also quite delicious. Phulkas (with ghee of course), this cabbage curry and a simple daal would have been my dream meal, but I am off wheat now, so I had it with brown rice instead.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp oil

2 bay leaves

3/4 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera/ jeeragam)

1 1/2 lb cabbage finely shredded

1 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

2 tomatoes, chopped

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

4 oz shelled peas

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok. Add the bay leaves and whole jeeragam and let it sizzle
2. Add the cabbage and stir for 2-3 mins
3. Add the turmeric, chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, sugar and tomatoes and mix
4. Lower the heat, cover and cook for 15 mins
5. Add the peas, cover and cook again for 15 mins occasionally stirring
6. Remove the cover. Turn heat up to medium high and cook until dry stirring continuously

I ground up fresh cumin powder, coriander powder and chili powder on V's request. It was a good idea since the aroma was unbeatable!

V also used the new light-weight Joyce Chen Carbon Steel wok that we had bought just earlier today. It worked out extremely well. I helped V to season the pan before use and also to clean it after use. I believe Carbon Steel woks rust easily. I have to wait and see how this one fares. My Lodge cast iron pan also needs seasoning after each use, but V hates to use it since it is so heavy and does not really suit Chinese stir-fry cooking which V likes to do a lot of.

We also did a fun exercise while V was cooking, which is a tasting test of different brands of coconut water from "Whole Foods". A separate post will be made with the results of the test!

All in all, V had fun cooking and I had fun being "Kitchen Director" although V insisted on calling me his assistant. (He is jealous because I do the bulk of the cooking at home and he is usually the assistant!) A sumptuous and healthy lunch was had with the cabbage curry, "tomato thokku", brown rice and yogurt.