Sri Lankan Stir Fried Cabbage | Gowa Mallum

There is little food waste in the homes of ordinary people in India and Sir Lanka – even the most ordinary ingredient can be turned easily into something extraordinary. Cabbage, for example, is not one of Winter’s favourite vegetables, but when fried with a few spices it is transformed into something to die for.  Check out our Cabbage Thoran and this one too.

This Sri Lankan dish is very similar to a Thoran or Poriyal, with Pandanus added. It is such a common dish (and so easy to prepare) and not surprisingly there are hundreds of variations of the dish – every family will have their own way of making it. Flavoured with onion, mustard seed, fenugreek, chillies, pandan and coconut oil, it is a very easy and tasty dish.

This recipe was given to us – we are always being sent recipes and our friends and family give us ones that they want us to make. We often don’t have the source, so if you know, fill us in so we can include the details.

Similar recipes include Cabbage Kothsu, Carrot Poriyal, and Sweetcorn and Spinach Stir Fry.

Browse all of our Cabbage dishes, our Thorans and all of our Sri Lankan recipes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Spring recipes.

Sautéed Butternut and Spinach with Roasted Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic

Spinach is often paired with butternut pumpkin and it is a perfect match. We’ve been cooking this recipe for ages. Over time it has changed, simplified, adapted to the food fashions of the time. But the main ingredients have stayed the same – spinach or similar greens, butternut or jap pumpkin, mushrooms and a couple of spices. In this recipe, any greens that cook up like spinach or chard and can handle spices can be used – try some of the Asian greens and Indian greens also.

At our place we often need a quick way to use up greens from the garden – spinach, bok choy, chard, silver beet and others. Our garden can get over-run with these! This is a great dish to use them up.

The butternut pumpkin is sauteed until almost cooked before the greens are added, and the finished dish is topped with roasted or sautéed mushrooms and some roasted garlic. Delicious.

Similar dishes include Roasted Mushrooms with Burrata, 50 of our Best Garlic Recipes, Eggplant, Spinach and Sweet Potato Curry, Daikon and Golden Pumpkin Curry, Sweetcorn and Spinach Bhauri, and Chinese Style Greens.

Or browse all of our Spinach recipes and our Pumpkin dishes. Explore our Mid Spring collection of recipes.

Noodles with Spring Onions and Edamame

Do you have those times when Spring Onions (scallions, green onions) pile up in the fridge, forgotten? They are generally used in salads or as a garnish for soups and other dishes but rarely shine as a main ingredient. It is time to change that, and Ottolenghi is just the person to provide some inspiration.

This is one of Ottolenghi’s dishes that is a breeze to make, relatively speaking. In our Plenty More project, we’ve been making some of his more complex, time consuming and multi-pot making recipes, so it is a delight to make a dish that is simpler in preparation.

Yes, it is a dish from Plenty More, and is a simple stir fry of Spring Onions and Edamame, mixed with noodles, topped with coriander leaves and sesame seeds and dressed with Sesame oil, rice vinegar and lime juice. Don’t forget the lime – it is critical to this dish.

This is excellent with Steamed Aubergine.

Similar dishes include Soba Noodles with Quick Pickled Mushrooms, Soba Noodles with Quick Pickled Mushrooms, Ginger Scallion Noodles, Pan Fried Edamame with Chilli, Lime and Salt, Spring Onion Soup, and Glass Noodles and Green Mango Salad.

Browse all of our Noodle recipes and all of our Edamame dishes. Our Ottolenghi dishes are here. Or explore our Late Summer dishes.

Curly Kale with Ginger and Garlic

Occasionally the urge for green vegetables hits, usually when you are tired, overworked, stressed or anxious. How wonderful a large plate of greens looks, smells and tastes at those times. Don’t worry, we have your back, try this kale dish. It combines the great Asian flavours of garlic, ginger, spring onions (scallions) and a little soy. Quick to make, it is just a few minutes from stove to table.

Similar dishes include Spinach and Sweetcorn Bhurji, Chickpeas and Beetroot Greens with Chilli, and Orzo with Wilted Spinach.

Browse all of our Kale dishes, and our Spinach/Greens recipes. Our Asian dishes are here. Or explore our Early Spring dishes.

Winter Curry | Cauliflower, Turnip and Swede Subzi

Some of the quickest and really good spicy dishes from India are those that take a vegetable or two and stir fry them with a few spices. These subzi dishes are wonderful side dishes, or make a simple lunch or supper served with rice or Indian flatbread.

Many of our Winter root vegetables are not as common in India, and most uses of them take existing recipes and replace the vegetable (e.g. carrot) with turnip, swede, parsnip, etc. As the Indian diaspora settles around the world, and as European and American vegetables make greater appearances in India, this will change over time.

This recipe takes a bunch of Winter vegetables and magics them into a subzi. Turnip, Swede and Cauliflower are used. Mixed with onions and spices, it makes a curry worthy of Winter. For freshness, scatter loads of coriander on top and finish with a squeeze of lemon or lime.

Similar dishes include Roasted Cauliflower with a Chilli Tomato Sauce, Punjabi Turnip Curry, Turnips in Coconut Milk, Turnip and Swede Gratin, Turnip with Spices, Okra and Onion Subzi, Kohlrabi Subzi, and Aloo Palak Subzi.

Browse our Turnip dishes, Swede recipes and our Cauliflower dishes. Our Indian dishes are here and our Indian Essentials here. Or explore all of our Late Winter dishes.

Bean Curd (Tofu) and Mushrooms with Vegetables

I have mentioned my ancient Chinese cookbook before, the one direct from the 1970’s, bright orange cover, published by Sunset, and absolutely falling apart now. It is held together with a bulldog clip. It is still available online, I see – leftover copies and second hand ones.  It is not surprising, the recipes are great. Mostly non-veg, but with enough veg recipes for me to still want to keep it on my bookshelves – at least until I have cooked every one of the veg dishes.

Today’s dish is simple but delicious. Tofu in a mushroom sauce with either broccoli, beans or carrots. Delicious. I have replaced oyster sauce with miso – you might like to use a mushroom based vegetarian oyster sauce if you prefer.

Similar recipes include Korean Braised Tofu with Chilli-Soy-Sesame, Broccoli and Chickpeas with Orange Butter Sauce, Chinese Cold Cucumber, Green Beans with Garlic and Sesame, and Sizzling Rice Squares.

Browse all of our Tofu dishes and all of our Chinese fare. Have a look at the recipes we have made from the cookbook Chinese Cooking. Or explore our Late Spring recipes.

Chilli Leaves with Peas

It was news to me that chilli leaves could be eaten, and now I rue all of those chilli plants over the decades that could have also provided the occasional green dish as well. Chilli leaves are a little earthy, a little bitter, and not at all hot. They are vibrant green when they are cooked – hence they are often included in Thai Green Curry Paste to enhance the colour without adding more green chillies.

My Asian green grocer had these in stock today, so a luscious bunch of large leaves that could not be avoided. She recommended soup, but in fact different countries use them in very different ways – from salads with soy sauce and sesame seeds (blanch the leaves first), to stir fried with garlic, to steamed with tofu. They also go well with noodles, topped with some crispy fried garlic and onion.

I have to thank my Asian green grocer – since I moved into this area we have a number of greens now available to us that were difficult to source or unknown to us previously – tamarind leaves, betel leaves, mustard leaves, amaranth leaves and chilli leaves are the ones that are now part of our kitchen.

Chilli leaves are used from Korea down through Asia and India to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and other parts of SE Asia. They are not an everyday green, but common enough. Here we cook them in a very simple Indian dish with peas and spices. You can make it in under 10 mins.

Similar dishes include Collapsed Beetroot Greens, Chilli Leaf Sambar, Eat Your Greens Every Day, Khar, Steamed Mustard Greens with Sambal, Simple Greens for Every Meal, and Chinese Greens with Garlic and Sesame.

Browse all of our Chilli Leaf recipes and all of our stir fries. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Late Spring recipes.

Thai Silken Tofu with Bean Sprouts and Broth

I remember David Thompson when he had a tiny little take-away Thai shop in Darley St, appropriately called Daley St. Thai. He was famous even then, the queue snaking down the street on a Friday and Saturday night. He then went on to open a high-end restaurant London (where his food was never understood – you lost out London). Then he moved to Thailand to open a Thai restaurant – a brave move for a non-Thai person. It remains a very popular establishment.

Somewhere along the line, David wrote a bible of Thai food. It is a compendium of the cuisine. Of course, there are very few vegetarian recipes in the book, but occasionally I take it down from the shelf and find one of the few suitable recipes to make, as Thai food is wonderful.

Today, with inspiration from David’s Thai Food, is a wonderful dish of soft tofu with garlic and bean sprouts. It is utterly delicious.

Similar dishes include Chinese Bean Curd with Mushrooms and Vegetables, Steamed Tofu with Bok Choi and Sesame, Curry Laksa with Fried Tofu, Baked Marinated Tofu, and Tofu and Spinach Layers.

Browse all Tofu dishes and all Thai recipes. Or explore our Mid Winter food.

Vendakkai Poriyal | Stir Fried Okra

It’s been more than 18 months since I began a crush on okra, and developed a project to explore this incredible vegetable which is available here all year round via Asian and Middle Eastern shops. In that time, we’ve made 60 or more Okra dishes, and,totally fallen in love with the long tapered “fingers” known cutely in India as Lady’s Fingers. Many of those recipe posts are in the queue to be published over the coming months.

Okra has become an important part of our life, but perhaps it is time to release the obsession and cook it less often. Admittedly, there are still quite a few recipes in the okra pile to tinker with, so there might be more….

One of the greatest finds of this project has been the number of ways that the Middle Eastern countries and India uses Okra. We have boiled, steamed, fried, deep fried, sauteed, baked and dehydrated Okra. Each dish has been a revelation. We have pared, chopped, slit and diced okra. We have learned to control the sliminess. We have battered okra. We have hand dried dozens of the tapered Lady’s Fingers over the course of a year.

Today’s dish is a very simple, but gorgeous, South Indian treatment of Okra. It is a remarkable, fresh dish. Another stir fried recipe, just with a few simple spices. The wonder of Tamil cooking is how simple easy dishes can taste amazing. There are variation upon variation of stir fried okra dishes – see here and here – but each is different and delightful.

Similar recipes include Cauliflower, Turnip and Swede Subzi, Parsi Okra Patia, Stuffed Okra, Crispy Okra in Yoghurt, Lady Finger Masala, and Bhindi Subzi.

Browse all of our Okra dishes. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Mid Summer dishes.

Moringa Leaf (Muringayila) Thoran | Drumstick Leaf Stir Fry

Thorans are delightfully delicious, simple and quick dishes from the South of India that can form part of a meal, or can be eaten just with rice. Today our recipe is for Drumstick Leaf (Moringa Leaf) Thoran. The recipe is the same as all thorans – a tadka, some onion perhaps, the vegetable and some coconut. Delicious.

Similar recipes include Spinach Thoran, Cabbage Thoran, Green Tomato Bhajji, and Zucchini Thoran. And have a look at our collection of Thoran recipes.

Also try Moringa Leaf Dal.

Browse all of our Moringa Leaf dishes and all of our Thorans. All of our Indian recipes are here, and our Indian Essentials are here. Or explore our Early Autumn dishes.