Curried cabbage and coconut

Got a big white cabbage that needed eating fast from last week's Alvin farmshare. Turned over a few ideas in my head: perhaps Polish style stuffed leaves (had been talking about these with my labmate who made them with his Polish-descended mother recently)? Or pickled? But then the idea of a dry, yellow curry with coconut came into my head and seemed so delicious I couldn't drop it.

I more-or-less followed this recipe, because it seemed to be quite straightforward and almost exactly what I had in mind - even including curry leaves, which I bought a bag of a month or so ago and had been storing in the freezer until an opportunity to cook them arose.

3 tbsp safflower oil (or other non-flavoured, high temp cooking oil)
1/4 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 heaping tsp mung dal, urad dal or small yellow lentils
1-2 small green chillies, seeds removed, finely chopped
10-20 fresh curry leaves (used 11)
1 small onion, finely sliced
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 a medium white cabbage (approx 1 lb), cored and shredded
1 piece fresh ginger, 1-inch long, peeled and chopped or cut into matchsticks
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp finely grated fresh coconut or grated dried coconut

Heat the oil in a large, tall saucepan over med-high heat. When it’s hot and shimmery add the mustard seeds. When they have almost all popped (30 sec or so), remove the pan from the heat, then turn down to medium, put pan back on, add cumin, dal, chilli, curry leaves, and saute until everything looks lightly golden (~ 45 sec). Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it’s soft and limp but does not change colour: two to four minutes. Add the turmeric and stir well to mix. Add the cabbage, ginger and salt, and mix thoroughly. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pan. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until cooked through, slightly translucent, tender, still crunchy but not mushy: about seven minutes. Add the coconut, and mix well. Taste for salt. Let sit for at least 5 min before eating.


This is really delicious, and makes a beautiful pan of yellow shreds studded with brown seeds and dal. The curry leaves lend a very particular aroma and flavour which I like, and the combined dal, cooked cabbage and coconut make a wonderful set of contrasting textures. Yum.

Mung bean and carrot salad

Mung beans are something that usually sits in the cupboard and I only use for sprouting.  I felt this was me being somewhat unimaginative - this recipe suggested a good use.

140g (~1 cup) dried green mung beans
60ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds  (didn't have, so used 1 1/2 tsp of cumin plus 1 1/2 tsp fennel)
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp white wine vinegar (didn't have - used cider vinegar instead)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp salt
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm batons
½ tsp sugar
20g coriander, chopped
Grated zest of 1 lemon

140g feta, broken into chunks

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil, add the beans and simmer for 20-25 minutes, until they are cooked but still retain a bite. Drain, shake well and transfer to a large bowl.

About three minutes before the beans are done, heat two tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan and add the seeds and chopped garlic. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until the seeds start to pop – about three minutes – then pour, hot oil and all, over the beans, along with the vinegar, chilli and half a teaspoon of salt.

While the beans are cooking, lay the carrots in a pan large enough for them to form a shallow layer on the bottom.  Pour over about 150ml water – the carrots should be nearly submerged – plus two tablespoons of oil and half a teaspoon each of sugar and salt.  Bring to a boil and keep on a high heat for eight minutes, by which time the water should have evaporated and the carrots become slightly caramelised but still crunchy. Drain some liquid, if needed.  Add the carrots to the bean bowl, along with the coriander and lemon zest, (and feta if using) and stir gently.

Moong Dal

I am in the mood for dal at the moment - it's the weather - it is becoming autumn, leaves are falling and it's getting chillier at night.  So warm, comforting, spicy bowls of slop are what I feel like cooking and eating.  Also, an hour or 2 of minimal-fuss cooking makes a pot of spicy legume to last a week.

I've been making quite a lot of red lentil and chana dal based ones recently, so fancied a (slight) change and remembered the packet of split, peeled mung beans S bought by accident from the Chinese supermarket (he had a list, it said mung beans - I meant for sprouting but he bought these ones).

I stumbled across this recipe and thought it would be a good place to start - seemed simple enough, and was a slightly different approach to the other dals I have been making (adding fried onions and whole spices at the end).

400g mung dal (skinned yellow split mung beans)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 in piece of root ginger, peeled and cut into 4
1 tsp turmeric
3 chillies, 2 finely chopped, 1 left whole
2 tbsp veg oil
1 small onion, finely sliced
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
Fresh coriander, chopped

Wash the mung, put in a pan and add 2 litres of cold water. Bring to the boil and skim. Add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and chopped chillies to the pan with a pinch of salt, turn down the heat, cover, leaving the lid slightly ajar, and simmer for 1-1½ hours, stirring occasionally, until smooth and soft.

Add salt to taste (approx 1 tsp), then add the whole chilli and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium high heat and add the onion. Stir until golden and beginning to crisp, then add the dried spices and cook for a couple of minutes until the mustard seeds are beginning to pop. Stir into the dal. Finally, add some chopped coriander and serve.


Nice and warm and yellow. I've reduced the cumin as it was a bit much. It is missing something - fenugreek?

Note - I accidentally-on-purpose tried this same recipe using yellow split peas (chana dal) instead of mung, and it was better i think - their rich butteriness gives depth that the mung lacked.  Although I may also have added more salt and did a better job of cooking the onions (til almost burnt and crispy but not quite).  Although the cooking time was longer - was over 2 hours not 1.5 hours.