Recipe: Kerala style "thoran": Cabbage stir-fry

Cabbage Thoran (Kerala dry, stir-fried cabbage)

This is a special item on the kerala meal. Preparation varies from one cook to the other. I first ate this in Alleppey, then checked out the recipes on YouTube. My method is an amalgam of the best of these.

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage
4-inch piece of carrot
2 shallots
grated coconut (1/2)
curry leaves - many!
garlic - 4-5 pieces off a fresh pod
red chilli - 2
moong dal without chilka 1 teaspoon, washed
cummin - 1/2 tsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
green chilli - 3
turmeric - 1 tsp
coconut oil - 2 tablespoons
salt - to taste

Preparation time: 

To cut the cabbage to a fine grate - (using a chopper device) - 5 minutes
To clean and dice the rest - another 5 minutes
To grate the coconut - 5 minutes

Method:

Use fresh cabbage. Remove the leaves, a few at the time, add them to the chopper, and grate them into a finely grated condition. Take the carrot, grate it with a normal grater. Mix the two. Add salt, and turmeric. Mix everything in a large bowl. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes. 

In the meantime, using a mortar and pestle, crush the three green chillis, a small piece of ginger, all the garlic, the shallots, the cummin seeds and 8-10 curry leaves into a paste. Keep aside.

Reach for the cabbage mix and squeeze out all the water from it, handful by handful, till the mix is water-free (to the best of your ability).

In a large saucepan, take coconut oil. Put on the heat. Once the oil is heated, splutter the remaining curry leaves, mustard seeds, the washed, skinless moong dal and the red chilli. Once they are spluttering, add the grated cabbage mix, the grated coconut, the crushed spices from the mortar, and now stir fry the whole mix - never stopping the stirring of the mix - till the entire mix starts coming together and the coconut oil leaves the sides of the mix.

Your thoran is ready. Serve it in a small bowl as a side to fried fish or egg curry and rice. Or, just eat it by itself. It is delicious.

The final look