Cabbage spaghetti

Got home from a weekend away and looked into the fridge - sighed ... and looked around again.  

OK - half a cabbage, frozen sliced ham from Christmas, a drop of elmlea left from last week, the end of the parmesan ... and some frozen peas  ... voila!  Cabbage carbonara.  

It was surprisingly tasty - and cheap ... needs a good grind of black pepper to give it some zing.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic

Spaghetti

Savoy cabbage

ham

parmesan

chilli flakes

frozen peas

1.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil until soft, add crushed garlic and a tablespoon of water, continue to cook slowly.

2.  Shred cabbage and chop ham into small pieces.

3.  Cook pasta according to packet instructions.

4.  Add shredded cabbage to onions, with a little more water, and a handful of frozen peas, a few chili flakes, and steam/fry for a few minutes.

5.  Add ham and cream to heat through.

6.  Drain pasta and add to sauce, with grated cheese.  Stir in

7.  Stir, serve, scoff, seconds ...

Cheap, delicious, uses stuff up.

Parsnip, cabbage, cannelloni bean and gorgonzola pie

You know that feeling - you know you have a glut of assorted vegetables, but they don't necessarily go together.  Well, I had parsnips, cabbage and some mushrooms - and some gorgonzola which needed using.  I remembered a recipe from Prue Leith using parsnips and cabbage in a pie, so I developed it from that.

Covered it in shortcrust pastry, and served with potato wedges and steamed broccoli.

Olive oil

Onion

Mushrooms

Parsnips

Garlic

Vegetable stock

Apples

Flour

Shredded cabbage

Cannelloni beans

Gorgonzola

Short crust pastry

Broccoli

1.  Sweat down chopped onion in olive oil.

**    chop potatoes into wedges and toss in olive oil - roast at 180 for about 1 hour.

2.  Add chopped mushrooms and peeled and chopped parsnips.

3.  Add crushed garlic and stock to cover the vegetables.  Simmer.

4.  Add chopped apples and cook until parsnips and apple are tender, simmer off most of the stock.  Thicken sightly with flour.

5.  Stir in shredded cabbage and simmer for another 5 minutes.

6.  Stir in a tin of cannelloni beans.

7.  Melt in gorgonzola.

8.  Cool a little and put mixture into a pie dish,

9. Cover with shorty crust pastry, stab steam holes in the top, and brush with milk/soya milk.

10.  Bake at 180 for about 35 mins,

** steam broccoli for about 12 minutes.

11. serve, scoff .... delish

Tapas tea

We fancied a bit of a change, and a bit of a cheer up - with the weather being continuously grim.  So, for the veg dodger pork and chorizo, for the pescatarian garlic prawns … and for the using up of the veg box - potatoes, onion and pepper, creamy cabbage, avocado and radish salad and some manchego … delish.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Yellow (or whichever) pepper
Potatoes
Sherry
Cider vinegar
Pork loin chops
Chorizo
Cabbage
Lemon
Egg
Soya cream (or sour cream)
Little gem lettuce
Radishes
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Prawns
chilli flakes

1.  Chop one white and one red onion.  Sautee the white onion in olive oil, add a little crushed garlic.  Then add chopped pepper, sliced potatoes, a splash of sherry, a splash of cider vinegar and some water.  Simmer gently, turning occasionally.
2.  Sautee half the red onion in olive oil, add chopped pork loin chops and chopped chorizo.  Brown a little, then leave to stew gently.
3.  Sautee the other half of red onion, with a little garlic, add shredded cabbage and a little water.   Season and cook until soft, squeeze on juice of half a lemon.  Whisk an egg into cream, add to the cabbage mixture and stir in.
4.  Chop salad vegetables, spritz with lemon juice to stop the avocado discolouring.
5.  Fry crushed garlic, prawns and a little chilli in olive oil.
6.  Serve, scoff ...

St Patrick's Day - baked gammon and colcannon

St Patrick's Day - and I am now in a largely Irish household, so any excuse for a roast gammon dinner and a pint or three of the black stuff.  It was made even more special by the beautiful gammon from Bracewell's butchers in Todmorden market hall - absolutely first rate.

Gammon joint
Potatoes
Onions
Cabbage
Carrots
Apple juice
Chicken stock cube
Butter
Egg
Cornflour

1.  Bake the gammon at 180 for about 2 hours (obviously depending on the size of your joint, this was just under 3lbs).  Turn it over after an hour, and add a cupful or so of apple juice to help make the gravy.
2.  After 1 hour peel the potatoes and put on to boil for the mash - steam chopped onions and shredded cabbage above the potatoes, and steam the peeled batons of carrot over them, for about 15-10 minutes, until the potatoes are done.
3.  Drain the potatoes, mash in the cooked onions and cabbage with plenty of butter.  Place in an oven dish and put in the oven to brown the top.  Cover the carrots with foil and put in the boom of the oven to keep warm.
4.  Drain the juices from the gammon, and make a simple gravy with chicken stock and cornflour.
5.  After another 30 minutes the dinner will be nearly done, so fry an egg for all those who want one.
6.  Serve, scoff ..

This is the veg dodger's plate - 4 carrot batons!  honestly!  But everybody had seconds, most had thirds and fourths .. success

Spanish feast ... innit

We had a house full ... which is fabulous ... but it's also a very, very sad time here.

No details, this is not the place...

But we needed a cheering dinner to suit - veggie, veg dodger, lactose intolerant and gf .... so I came up with this... chorizo and pork casserole, butter bean casserole and potato wedges... we ALL loved it

Olive oil
potatoes

onions
garlic
red pepper
mushrooms
pork loin steaks/diced pork
chorizo
butter beans
dry sherry (optional)
tin of chopped tomatoes
cabbage

1.  Start off with the potatoes - cut them into wedges and toss them in olive oil - then roast - at about 180, for about 45 minutes.
2.  Start the two stews ... sautee chopped onion and garlic until soft.
3.  Split the cooked onion and garlic into 2 pans and add the other ingredients to each ... 1 veggie - 1 meaty.
4.  So for the veggie - red pepper and mushrooms.
5.  for the meaty - chopped  chorizo and pork ... cook them both, stirring so they dont stick for about 5 minutes.
6.  Then add ... to the veggies a tin of drained butter beans, to the meaty a splash of dry sherry.  Simmer.
7.   Split a tin of chopped tomatoes between the two pans, add some stock and simmer away.
8.  Chop the cabbage into slices (not shredded, but not chunks)  .. chuck it into the veg stew.
9.  Serve, scoff ... yum

Borlotti bean and cheese burgers, with potato wedges, sauteed cabbage and griddled courgettes

Following on from the batch of borlotti beans I made burgers from the mix I made yesterday vegan borlotti buritto mix , with some cheese in the middle to ooze out when cooked.  I served it with potato wedges, griddled courgettes, stir fried cabbage and the red pepper sauce - also from yesterday.  It was very good.  I used Pearl Wen, from the crumbly cheese, as it's my current favourite but you could use cheddar, mozzarella or pretty much any other cheese.  The stir fried cabbage came from an idea of a take on coleslaw - but no carrots ... so I thought I would soften it slightly and add some zest with the lime .. it works, I promise!

Borlotti bean mix (as above)
Porridge oats
Cheese (Pearl Wen, or other, as above)
Olive oil
Potatoes
Courgettes
Tuscan seasoning
Cabbage
Spring onion
Garlic
Lime

1.  Cut potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for about 40 minutes.
2.  Mix the bean mixture with oats - about 1/2 the volume of oats to bean mixture. Mix well, chill in the fridge to firm up slightly.
3.  Cut 1 inch slices of cheese - one for each burger.  Form the burgers by wrapping a slice of cheese with the bean mix, place on a greased baking tray and bake for about 25 minutes, turning over half way through.
4.  Slice the courgettes and toss in Tuscan seasoning mix.  Griddle for a couple of minutes on each side.  Keep warm until everything is ready.
5.  Shred the cabbage and spring onion.  Crush a clove of garlic.  Stir fry the cabbage, onion and garlic, add a pinch of salt, for 2-3 minutes in hot olive oil.  Spritz with lime juice.
6.  Serve, with red pepper sauce (again, as above), scoff ... really delicious!

Cauliflower and cabbage cheese, butter bean ragu and roast potatoes

Sometimes you just have to use up a load of veg which are sitting in the bottom of the fridge - this was one of those days.  I liked it, but then I like "school" cabbage ... other people didn't like the cabbage in with the cauliflower, saying it was overcooked ... but, actually, it was still pretty darn good - and cheap too.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Chilli flakes
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Vegetable stock
Butter beans
Cauliflower
Cabbage (obvs, optional, see commentary)
Soya milk
cornflour
Cheese (assorted leftover bits, including some blue)
Mustard

1. Chop potatoes and roast in olive oil.
2.  Chop onion and sautee in olive oil, add crushed garlic and chopped pepper and mushroom.
3.  Add a sprinkle of chilli flakes, and a cup of veg stock, simmer.
4.  Steam cauliflower and shredded cabbage - when done move to am oven dish.
5.  Add drained butter beans to the mushroom and pepper mix, transfer to an oven dish and keep warm in the oven until the rest is ready.
6.  Make the cheese sauce by heating soya milk, add slaked cornflour and cheese.  Stir in a spoonful of mustard.  Stir and heat until cheese is melted and its think and lovely.  Pour over the caulifloer and bake for about 15 minutes.

Mushrooms and cabbage, with mash and bacon

Open fridge, ponder, shut fridge, ponder ,,,, OK - ragu of onions, mushrooms and savoy cabbage, creamy mashed potatoes and a few rashers of bacon - bliss.

Potatoes
Onion
Olive oil
Garlic
Savoy cabbage
Vegetable stock
Butter
Bacon

1.  Start with the mash - peel, chop and boil potatoes.
2.  The ragu - very easy - sautee chopped onion in olive oil, add crushed garlic and chopped mushrooms.  When they are soft add shredded cabbage and a cup of veg stock to fry/steam until done.
3.  Mash the potatoes with butter, put it in the oven to keep warm and brown the top.
4.  Grill the bacon.
5.  Serve, scoff.

Duck breast, with figgy greens and mash

More experimenting with the "pudding with me dinner concept", and I'm sorry to say, but in general I am still on the anti team .... this was perfectly pleasant, but ....

The sherry, fruit and cinnamon do give the greens a nice slightly spicy sweetness, but I still don't have a sweet tooth.  On the upside - 6 of my 5 a day in one dish.

Potatoes
Butter
Olive oil
Onion
Sherry
Vegetable stock
Figs
Raisins
Cinnamon
Chili flakes
Cavolo nero
White cabbage
Spinach

Duck breasts

1.  Peel and dice the potatoes, boil - when cooked mash with butter and put in the oven for the top to crisp up.
2.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil.
3.  When the onion is soft add a splash of sherry and a cup of vegetable stock.  Add a small handful of raisins and 2 whole figs, simmer briefly.
4.  Remove figs, turn off the heat.
5.  Cook the duck breasts on a high heat, skin side first for a couple of minutes.  Turn the heat down, turn them over for a couple of minutes, then transfer to an oven dish and roast for 10 minutes.
6.  Cut figs into pieces.
7.  Add green veg to the stock, and simmer/steam for 5 minutes, stir the figs back in and heat through.
8. Serve, scoff, watch veg dodger eat seconds of cabbage mixture.

Roast trout, salsa verde and coleslaw

Friday - so, it'll be fish then ... no surprise there.  The beauty of this meal is that is suits everyone - the veg dodger likes coleslaw (albeit slathered in mayonnaise) and we all like fish.  I made a punchy salsa verde just to ring the changes, which wnet down well - I love the sharpness of the capers and cornichons chopped into the parsley and garlic - so dolloped on a load.  Others had a modest taste, but declared that it was surprisingly tasty.  This mix is firmly on the make again list.  It's also dead easy apart from some chopping.

Baby potatoes
Olive oil
Trout
Lemon
Spring onion
Red onion
Salt
Carrots
White cabbage
Cider vinegar
Sesame seeds
Parsley
Garlic
Capers
Cornichons

optional mayonnaise

1.  Parboil baby potatoes, then roast in olive oil.
2.  Put slices of lemon in the fish, fold them closed, drizzle with olive oil, roast covered in foil - for 30 minutes (about 160).
3.  Make the coleslaw - thinly slice onions, toss in a salad bowl, sprinkle with salt to start breaking them down.  Add julienned carrots (or grated) and finely shredded cabbage.  Toss gently and leave to stand.  After 10 minutes sprinkle on sesame seeds, splosh in some olive oil and a splash of cider vinegar.  Toss again, more throughly.  (at this point add mayonnaise/yoghurt if your household likes it - some of mine don't, so we have have it on the table for DIY concoction).
5.  Finely chop a pile of parsley with a small handful of capers and cornichons and a couple of garlic cloves.  Put the lovely green-ness into a bowl, add olive oil and stir until it looks and tastes right.
6.  Serve, scoff ... have seconds ... fight over last potato, leave leftover coleslaw for lunch tomorrow.

Hake and potato wedges with a ragu of summer vegetables

Paul had some lovely hake this Friday, so I thought we would have a treat.  Tasty wedges making a tiny change from chips, and some veg braised in wine finished it off. Yum.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Onion
Carrots
White wine
Stock
Cabbage
Hake

1.  Cut potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and bake for 45 minutes.
2.  After 25 ish minutes - Sautee red onion and diced carrot for a few minutes, in olive oil.  Add a cup of white wine and a cup of stock, simmer gently for a few minutes.  When you put the fish on add shredded cabbage and allow to wilt.
3.  Brush the fish with olive oil, and fry in a hot pan, skin side down first for a few minutes each side.
4.  Serve, scoff.

Cowboy chow: pork'n'beans

Some fantastic pork steaks in Nick Fielding's Value pack, from Todmorden Market Hall - a tin of beans and a few tweaks ... lovely spicy beans, wedges and cabbage.  Our household has a number of dietary requirements, including vegetarian and veg dodging - so if we are all around it's easier to cook the meat separately - if I were cooking this for all meat eaters I would have been tempted to make a pork and bean stew.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Mushrooms
Tin of baked beans
Tin of tomatoes
chilli flakes
fennel seeds
BBQ sauce
cabbage
pork steaks

1.  Chop potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for 45 minutes or so.
2.  Sautee chopped onion and garlic, add chilli flakes and fennel seeds.
3.  When the onion is soft add chopped mushrooms, baked beans, a tin of tomatoes, and a splash of water, simmer.  Add a squirt of BBQ sauce for extra tang.
4.  Shred and steam cabbage.
5.  Rub a little olive oil onto the pork steaks and pan fry for a couple of minutes each side.
6.  Serve, scoff - watch veg dodger have seconds of beans ... unafraid of the hidden mushrooms.  Vegetarian had a fired egg.

Spanish omelette packed with veggies

I like broccoli - really I do, but sometimes I don't want BROCCOLI, if you see what I mean - we also have a bit of a glut of red peppers from the veg box, so I wanted to do something tasty but quite quick.  Purists probably wouldn't call it a spanish omelette, possibly a fritatta but they tend to be potato free.  Lots of delicious slaw left over from last night, so a good big serving of that too - that's got to be 7 of my 5 a day, at least!




Veg packed spanish omelette

Olive oil
onion
red pepper
Mixed herbs
Potato
broccoli
eggs (lots)
grated cheese

1.  Sautee onions in olive oil, when softened a little add red pepper, and continue to soften, add a pinch of mixed herbs.
2.  Meanwhile boil sliced potatoes, steaming broccoli florets on the top.
3.  Beat together lots of eggs, season with salt and pepper.
4.  When the veg is cooked drain and leave to cool slightly - then mix into the eggs.  (Allowing them to cool slightly stops them scrambling the eggs as soon as you mix them in, which gives the omelete a peculiar texture.)
5.  Tip the mixture into a spoonful of olive oil in a big deep frying pan, fry gently for about 5 minutes.
6.  Put under the grill to cook from the top.  When the top is set add grated cheese, put back under the grill until its bubbling and delicious.

Crunch slaw

Red cabbage
Green cabbage
Onion
Carrots
Radish
Lemon juice/ cider vinegar
Olive oil

1.  Shred cabbages and chop carrots into slivers.  Chop onion into fine half moons, and radish into slivers.
2.  Mix veg, add a good pinch of salt, and mix again.
3.  Add a spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice and a slosh of olive oil, mix again.
If you like creamy coleslaw you could add mayonnaise and/or natural yogurt at this point.

Bacon, cabbage and mash

It's quite chilly now, and we fancied something traditional and warming, but I also wanted to ring the changes a little - so a quick forage around Todmorden market, and this delicious concoction was invented.

From Bracewell's the butchers

Gammon steaks

From The Crumbly Cheese

Raclette, butter

From The Mediterranean Pantry
Olive oil, caraway seeds, bouillon powder

From Garry the veg

Onions, Potatoes, white cabbage

1.  Peel and boil potatoes for the mash.
2.  Chop onion, sautee in olive oil.
3.  When the onion is soft add shredded cabbage, a scant teaspoon of caraway seeds (not too many, it goes medicinal), a teaspoon of bouillon powder and a cup fo water, simmer gently.
4.  Mash the potato, with butter, and pop in the oven to brown.
5.  Top the onion and cabbage mix with raclette, and pop in the oven to melt.
6.  Fry the gammon for a couple of minutes on each side - you can pop it into the bottom of the oven to keep warm until the potato reaches the right colour for your taste.
7.  Serve, scoff

Lovely, and about £4 a head.

Budget roast chicken dinner

Sometimes you want something really simple, but really tasty - and this was really cheap too - I think is was under £1 a head, and done in 30 minutes.

Chicken thighs
Garlic
Lemon
Olive oil
Potatoes
Cabbage
Green beans
Onions
Butter

1.  In a roasting dish - put in chicken thighs, season them, add crushed garlic and a sliced lemon.  Splosh on a little olive oil and massage it into the meat for a minute.  Roast - high heat for 30 minutes.
2.  Boil new potatoes, steam the beans and cabbage on top of them.
3.  Fry chopped onions in olive oil until soft, and a little brown.
4.  Serve - with butter for the potatoes, and the pan juices from the chicken as a simple "gravy".

Just another Todmorden tapas

This time it was a sort of american-spanish take ...

Spicy mini potato roasties
Chorizo
Cauliflower with pine nuts and raisins
Pepper filled with stockfish
Coleslaw
Corn on the cob
Grilled chilli and garlic prawns

Not bad for a Wednesday night!

Start with the potatoes, and work steadily for about an hour, and it will all get done.

Ingredients.....

From The Mediterranean Pantry:  Olive oil, cajun spices, chorizo, pine nuts, raisins, garlic, chilli flakes, stuffed peppers
From Garry:  Potatoes, onions, cauliflower, sweetcorn, lemon, carrots, cabbage
From Paul:  Prawns

also ... sherry

1.  Chop potatoes into bite sized pieces, put into a roasting tray with a dusting of cajun seasoning.  Roast in a medium-hot oven (about 180).
2.  Finely slice 2 onions - one for the cauliflower, and one for the coleslaw - actually it's about 1 and a quarter for the cauliflower, and 3/4 for the coleslaw.
3.  Gently sautee the onion for the cauliflower in olive oil, then add cauliflower florets, and a drop of water, put the lid on and "steam" the cauliflower until done.
4.  Finish making the coleslaw by adding julienned carrots and shredded cabbage.  Season, add the juice of half a lemon and a splash of olive oil.
5.  Prep the sweetcorn, and put into a pan of water, ready to boil at 20 minutes to serving.
6.  Take the peppers with fish out of tin, into an oven dish and put into the oven with the potatoes to heat through.
7.  Marinate the prawns in chilli falkes, crushed garlic, lemon juice and a splash of olive oil.
8.  Chop chorizo into bite sized pieces.
9.  Check on the potatoes, I think you should be about 5 minutes from all done.
10.  Splash some sherry into the cauliflower and add a small handful of pinenuts and raisins, cook the alcohol off.
11. Fry the chorizo and the prawns in 2 separate pans - turn the prawns after a couple of minutes, keep the chorizo moving until it's done.
12.  Serve, scoff - some people will mix in mayonnaise to make their coleslaw creamy.

Baked BBQ ribs - potato wedges and coleslaw

Caribbean food week:  day 4

BBQ ribs which are actually baked in the oven - absolutely gorgeous.  Not really ideal for a mid-week dinner as they take 2 1/2 hours.

It was so worth it though, and the veg dodger had seconds of coleslaw.

Spices are available from The Mediterranean Pantry, and the ribs from Mellings butchers - superb.



Rack of ribs - pork for us
1/2 tsp each of:-

all spice
ginger
nutmeg
paprika
salt
black pepper
dried thyme

desert spoon of brown sugar

BBQ sauce

potatoes

carrots
cabbage
onion
salt
olive oil
mayonnaise

1.  Heat the oven to 180.
2.  Mix all the dry ingerdients and rub well into the rack of ribs - massage it is as much as you can.
3.  Wrap in foil.  Make sure that it is well sealed to keep in all the juiciness.
4.  Bake for 2 hours - literally - just chuck it in there and do something else, ignore it for 2 full hours - make sure you get the wedges in after about an hour, though, so that it's ready at the same time.
5.  Potatoes, olive oil, oven .... for the wedges.
6.  Make the coleslaw by finely shredding cabbage, carrot and onion.  Add salt and leave to stand for 10 minutes, then add a glug of olive oil and a blob of mayonnaise - stir, chill until everything else is ready.
7.  After 2 hours, unwrap the pork ... keep it on the foil, as it gets stickier and stickier from now, and foil goes in the bin - sticky trays take ages to clean.  Pop it back in the oven for 5 minutes to dry off the top a little.
8.  Smother the top of the ribs in BBQ sauce, and pop back in the oven for 5 minutes ... to get that gooey glossy coating.  Do this twice for a deepish layer of sticky deliciousness.
9.  Serve, scoff ... remember to have lots of kitchen roll to hand!

It's Bacon Lovers Day

And we love bacon.  Not every day, before anyone reports us to the health police - but it's really good.  These gammon steaks were from Bracewell's in Todmorden Indoor Market and they were FABULOUS.

Equally fabulous was the cabbage from Jean from The Crumbly Cheese - OK, you can't buy them from her - this was a delicious gift from her garden ... Jean - your cabbage was amazing!

Also, potatoes and carrots available from Garry outside.

Gravy made with apple and calvados jelly from The Mediterranean Pantry - it was a feast.

1.  Peel and boil potatoes.
2.  Prep and steam carrots and cabbage.
3.  Fry gammon on a medium heat, until it starts to colour on both sides.  Remove and keep warm.
4.  Mash potato, add butter and seasoning.
5.  Add white wine (or cider) to gammon pan to make gravy from the juices, add a spoon of apple jelly until it melts.
6.  Fry eggs for the vegetarian.
7.  Serve, scoff .... groan cos you're too full to leave the table!

Pork'n'beans

At Kitchen Fairies HQ at the moment we have 4 people - all with particular dietary requirements.  1 pescatarian, 2 lactose intolerant, 1 gluten free and 1 "salad dodger" carnivore.  This makes dinner preparation an interesting experience.  Tonight I thought - cowboy dinner - but the pork can't touch the beans, and there was some lovely haddock - so the unifying element for everyone was a hearty veggie beanie sauce!  Also, there was cabbage in the fridge which needed using up, so a side dish of cabbage and cumin was included.

It took about 40 minutes start to finish.

Brown rice

Olive oil
Onion
Carrot
Celery
Garlic
Yellow pepper
Turkish beans
Paprika
Chopped tomatoes

Pork
White wine
Quince jelly
American mustard
Chicken stock

Haddock

Cumin
Cabbage

1.  Start the rice - I use the adsorption method - rice + water to about an inch above the rice, bring to the boil.  Lid on tight and keep hot in the oven while everything else finishes off.  It's quite a forgiving method, and the rice can sit there for quite a while as you sort everything else out.
2.  Now for the veg casserole - sautee chopped onion, carrot and celery in olive oil.  Add crushed garlic and chopped pepper, and a pinch of paprika.  Sautee until veg is a bit soft, but not done - then add a tin of beans (I used turkish beans because we had them - but butter beans or haricot would also work - even good old baked beans!) - and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Simmer.
3.  Fry the pork in olive oil, add a splosh of white wine (or apple juice), a spoonful of quince jelly (or apple jelly) and a squirt of american mustard.  A cup of chicken stock will stop it going too dry.
4.  Pan fry the haddock.
5.  Stir fry shredded cabbage in hot oil and cumin.
6.  Gather troops, serve, scoff.

Carrot and cabbage curry, with dhal and rice

Open fridge, see ... not that much ... some spring onions, some carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and half a cabbage, add some rice, lentils, garlic, spices and a paratha each ..faff about a bit and .... ta dah! dinner!

1.  Put 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water in a pot.  Bring to the boil, lid on turn RIGHT down.
2.  Boil lentils.
3.  For the curry, start with curry spices (fennel seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, tumeric) onions, garlic and some grated ginger - in olive oil.
4.  Add diced carrot and water/stock, simmer for a bit.
5.  Add chopped mushrooms, shredded carrots and halved cherry tomatoes.
6.  When nearly cooked add garam masala to taste.
7.  Prepare the tarka for the dhal ... in olive oil heat curry leaves, cardamon, a little chilli and cumin.
8.  Throw the tarka onto the dhal, fry the paratha on each side.