Cabbage, lightly sautéed with garlic

A few weeks ago, I was on a work call when I overheard a colleague of mine talking to his cook.

He was irritated. He had a whole cabbage in his pantry and had no idea what to do with it, He doesn’t like cabbage. Neither do his roommates.

I told him I had a solution. And right there on the same call, I dictated this recipe to his cook.

Since then, my colleague has told me multiple times that this recipe has “brought in a revolution.”. It made him and his roommates like cabbage. Something which he thought would be impossible.

Why this recipe works

There are two natural qualities that cabbage brings to a meal:

1. freshness (as with any leafy vegetable), and
2. crunchiness

A lot of us in India think we do not like cabbage because the way it is often cooked in traditional recipes destroys both these qualities.

In Indian recipes, cabbage is often cooked for a long time, until it is soft and mushy. And the spices used in these also overpower the delicate freshness that cabbage can bring. (I personally do not mind this style of consuming cabbage as well, if it is spaced out enough – like maybe twice a year.)

This recipe, in contrast, works with the natural characteristics of cabbage, and adds ingrediends which completement that.

Tips and tricks

• Use fresh cabbage for the best results.
• Not overcooking the cabbage, so that it retains a bit of crunchiness is the most important part of this recipe.