Patta gobhi ki sabji is an easy Indian style green cabbage stir-fry recipe. It is prepared with only cabbage and everyday spices. Finely chopped cabbage is sautéed in oil tempered with whole spices and some lentil.
Patta gobhi (also called band gobhi in Hindi) or green cabbage is the most common variety of cabbage and widely used in Indian kitchens. For me, it was something that for the longest of times, I only ate in veg fried rice. It has a slightly bitter taste after cooking and I believe we develop our taste buds to appreciate come level of bitterness only after an age.
I have to confess, as a kid I never really liked patta gobhi. I used to eat it, of course, but it wasn’t in my list of vegetables that I will specially ask mummy to make. Now I like it. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that I love it. But it is important to eat a variety of vegetables and patta gobhi ki sabji is such an easy recipe to make and light to eat as well. Now, it is a quintessential “ghar ka khana” dish in our home.
I cook it in mustard oil with a tempering of mustard, cumin, fenugreek seeds and yellow lentils. It is very lightly spiced with just turmeric, red chili and cumin-coriander.
Cabbage Stir-Fry | Patta Gobhi ki Sabji
Ingredients (1cup = 240ml; 1tbsp = 15ml; 1tsp = 5ml)
- 1 medium sized Green Cabbage Head ~200gms
- 2 tbsp Mustard oil or use your regular vegetable cooking oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 pinch Asafoetida hing
- 1 tbsp split yellow lentils use either chana dal or toor dal
- 3 cloves Garlic chopped
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 2 tsp Cumin powder
- ½ tsp Red Chilli powder
- Salt to taste
- Fresh Coriander Leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Remove the outer one or two layers of the cabbage. They are usually wilted and should be discarded. Wash, wipe, and then chop finely. To chop the cabbage, cut the head into half and place the flat cut side on the cutting board. Cut in half lengthwise and then chop it finely along the width.
- In a kadhai/wok, heat mustard oil. Just as the oil starts to smoke*, reduce heat and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds.
- When the mustard seeds start to sputter, add asafoetida, split lentils and garlic. Sauté for a minute or so till the lentils just start to turn brown.
- Reduce heat to lowest** and add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and red chili powder. Mix and cook the spices for just a minute.
- Add chopped cabbage and mix well to coat the cabbage with the spices. Cook covered for 5 minutes.
- Add salt, mix and again cook covered for about 10 minutes, with occasional stirring, till the cabbage is cooked through. Some people like it very soft and some like to have a bite in it so cook to your preference.
- Sprinkle with fresh coriander and serve hot with roti, paratha, or as a side to dal-chawal.
Notes
- *Smoking the mustard oil improves it’s flavor in the dish and also removes the raw smell of the oil. Heat the oil till it just starts to smoke and then reduce the flame/heat to medium-low for cooking. This is not done with regular cooking oils.
- **Spice burn very quickly, reducing heat to lowest prevents them from burning.
- Nutritional Information is the approximate information for 1 of 4 servings
- For variations to plain patta gobhi sabji, more vegetables can be added with the cabbage. You can add onions along with garlic. Or add potatoes and peas along with the cabbage.
Try it, it’s good!
Writing about this recipe really brought out childhood food memories! When I was a kid my reaction to “kha ke dekho achcha hai” (try it, it’s good)” would always be a very cautious poking around the dish trying to figure out what’s in there. Does it sound familiar? Below is one of favorite strips of Calvin and Hobbes sharing similar experience 🙂
Mom’s way of making us eat all vegetables was to add a little potato in it so at least with the potato, we will try all the “non-kid-friendly” vegetables like cabbage, gourd, cauliflower, and beans. You might think we were spoiled and I totally agree! Most of the times we ate what we liked and only twice a week, mom would insist on us trying something new.
Did you also have the “try it, it’s good” trap in your childhood?
Connect with me over food memories!
If you cook this simple patta gobhi ki sabji aka Indian cabbage stir-fry or if have any food memories to share, I would love to know 🙂
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Great recipe, must try. Please add more recipe.
Thanks, Joaquim
This year has been a bit tough with little bandwidth for blogging but hope to resume soon.