Easy Curry Indian Cabbage Recipe

Curry Indian cabbage recipe you’ll love. A tender easy cabbage recipe fried on the stove in a skillet with a ton of flavor. Serve as a side dish or vegetarian snack. You can make it spicy or leave mild.

Fried Indian cabbage is great. If you love curry and all the things you can put it in this one is for you. Whether you make this green vegetable during St Patricks Day and that is it, or you’re like us and cook it year round it’s easy to do. Add red pepper flakes for heat or not, it’s super versatile. (affiliate links present)

Indian Fried Cabbage

We have made the “traditional” fried cabbage on the stovetop before. That has a saltier flavor with soy sauce and bacon bits. Still incredibly good but a totally different flavor profile for sure. Depending on what you’re making as your main dish you might want something wit a bit more flare.

Let’s say you’re making our butter chicken recipe, you would want to keep with that flavor profile as far as Indian food side dishes might go. If you make Indian recipes every now and then you should already have the seasonings you’ll need in your spice rack. The main ones are curry, cumin and coriander. If you don’t have them I’ll provide a link below.

Indian Cabbage Curry

You can cut cabbage a number of different ways, that is really up to you. I just sliced the head in half and then sliced into slender pieces. You could chop into smaller cole slaw like pieces too if you wanted to. Keep in mind that the smaller the pieces are the quicker they will soften. You will want to keep an eye on it if you want to keep a bit of texture to it still.

• 2 c cabbage sliced
• 1/2 onion diced
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Coriander
• 1/3 tsp curry powder
• Paprika
• Ground ginger
• Cumin
• Minced garlic
• Vegetable broth or water

Another benefit to using canned coconut milk is that the dish will remain dairy free if that is a concern for your household (it is for ours). Of course another alternative is to add less seasoning all together too. We do this with our oxtail curry. Measurements are to flavor 2 cups of green cabbage. If you wanted more just double everything.

Curry Cabbage Recipe

This was made in a skillet, you could use a Dutch Oven too. Something with a lid is a must so you can steam it for a bit and get it softened nicely. You could follow the instructions and timing for our Instant Pot fried cabbage if you wanted to use your pressure cooker instead. That cuts down the timing quite a bit, usually our go to resource.

• Fry the sliced or chopped cabbage in oil for 7 minutes on low heat, stir occasionally so it begins to become tender.
• Wait for the cabbage to soften and brown around the edges.
• Add the diced onions, stir and fry everything together for another 5 minutes.
• Add salt, spices, garlic and stir, fry for another 3 minutes.
• Pour in 1/4 cup broth or a quarter cup of water, stir and cover the pan with a lid.
• After 5-7 minutes remove once your Indian cabbage is as tender as you’d like and serve.

Delicious both hot and cold as a cabbage salad. Typically you would enjoy this right out of the pan for dinner. It saves well too though if you have leftovers. If you do allow it to cool completely, then store in a sealed container and in the fridge. The next day enjoy it right out of the cooler! So good this way too, like we do our pickled cabbage.

Cabbage with Indian Spices

What can I add to curry to make it more flavorful? I mean if you think the seasonings aren’t bold enough for you in this one I would be surprised. BUT if that is the case you might want to use whole spices instead of ground and heat them in the oil to release those flavors first. Whole boasts more intense flavors.

Cabbage Stir Fry

There are a ton of variations when you cook cabbage. Adding small bits of other vegetables to steam with it is a given. The most popular choice would be fresh green peas. You could toss these with garam masala before adding to make them more Indian style veggies. Other variations and choices to add would be;

What is a good seasoning for cooked cabbage?

• Adding a bit of turmeric powder in there
• Mustard seeds would add a bit of tang
• A bit of heat with green chilis or red pepper flakes works well
• Use whole cumin seeds instead of ground for a more intense flavor
• Try some curry leaves if you like
• You can serve cabbage with a bit of grated fresh coconut on the top like you do with cabbage poriyal

If you’re pretty sure some may want to tone down the flavor you could have a small pitcher of coconut milk available on the table. Then if someone wants it they can pour a bit on, fold it in, and cream it as they wish. To add a chana dal flare to it you would want to cook curry lentils on the side and fold them in when tender to your liking.

Can you save cooked cabbage

You can but realize that it will change the texture. When cooled and stored in the fridge it will continue to soften the longer it sits. I am a big texture person so I won’t leave it longer than 24 hours. When I am ready I will either eat it cold as is or warmed like air fryer cabbage so it adds a bit of crisp to the edges.

The latter is typically the way to go for me but to each their own. I hate wasting food so I like providing a few options, this one is great cold and warm really. Let us know if you add something else we hadn’t mentioned you thought worked out well!