Cabbage Rolls

This recipe is from my old collection but somehow I have never managed to try it out until now. As you all know, cabbage is a low calorie and high fibre vegetable. It is good to include this in your regular diet. Apart from salads or stir-fried, a variety of dishes can be prepared from this wonderful vegetable.

I was very excited to try out this recipe.
So I started my cooking in right earnest and once done, I was eager to taste it. Appearance wise they looked very tempting. I cut one roll into four pieces; gave one to my spouse and took one for myself. I took one bite – it was delicious but at the same time, I could feel the smoke coming out of my ears and noticed that my hubby was also going through the same predicament. We of-course realized that the two small green chilies were the culprit. They looked so harmless that I even added a dash of red chilly powder ! So take care while using the type and number of chilies.

I quickly got out the tomato ketchup bottle poured some over the pieces and we could manage to eat the rest of them with relish.

I can say for sure that these rolls, rock ! Try it out and see for yourself.

           

Ingredients:

Cabbage leaves	6
Boiled Potato	1 large
Grated (fresh) carrot	1/2 cup
Boiled or frozen green Peas	1/2 cup
Onion	1 medium
Tomatoes	1 large
Green chilies	1-2
Garlic	3-4 cloves
Ginger	About 1” piece
Turmeric powder	1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder(optional)	1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder	1 tsp
Salt	As per taste
Oil	For shallow frying
Coriander leaves (chopped)	For garnishing

Method:

1. Peel and dice the boiled potato. Chop onion, ginger, garlic, green chilies tomatoes and coriander and keep them aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies and saute it till the onions are translucent.
3. Add all the powders (turmeric, chilly and garam masala) and fry for a few minutes.
4. Next add chopped tomatoes. When tomatoes turn soft, add green peas and grated carrot and boiled and diced potatoes. Mix well. Add salt and if required, add a little water. Stir well and allow it to simmer for a few minutes or until all the water has been absorbed and the curry is dry. Remove from flame.
5. Lastly add chopped coriander leaves, mix well and keep it aside. The stuffing/filling is now ready.
6. Next, blanch cabbage leaves in hot salted water for 2 – 3 minutes and remove and drain well.
7. Now fill each blanched cabbage leaf with a little of the above prepared filling and roll it and keep aside.
8. In this way prepare all the rolls.
9. Now, heat a non-stick frying pan and add a few drops of oil. Place the prepared cabbage rolls in it and fry it lightly on one side and gently turn it and fry it on the other side too taking care that the mixture does not spill out. Do not brown the cabbages. The crispiness of the cabbage should be retained.
10. Serve hot with tomato sauce.

Here, I forgot to include onion and garlic in the picture.

Cabbage leaves being blanched

Cabbage Rolls served with tomato sauce

Preparaion time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Makes : 6 rolls

Note:

• This can be best served as a starter/ appetizer. Cut each roll into bite size pieces and serve it with tomato sauce or any chutney.
• Before blanching the cabbage leaves, if necessary, you can cut off the hard part of the cabbage for easy rolling of the leaf. Do not discard it but the same can be utilized in a mixed vegetable curry.
• Any stuffing/filling of  your choice also works out well.

Mango Salsa

This Mango salsa is totally different from the tomato-based salsa. This requires no cooking and can be easily prepared in a jiffy.

Ever since the mango season started, I have been devouring varieties of this wonderful fruit. I thought its high time I made another simple yet  unique and a tasty dish before the mango season ends. So, here I am !
Any ripe mango can be used in this dish. Given a choice, I would always pick Alphonso mango. This time however, I tried it with the Baiganpally mango (a produce of Hyderabad). These are very big, sweet and juicy mangoes and have a very flat seed. 

I have added pitted black olives to give that extra zing and colour to the salsa.

The tomato based salsa (my earlier post) can be viewed here.

Ingredients:

Ripe Mango	1
Onion (chopped)	1 small
Green chilles (chopped)	1-2
Coriander leaves(chopped)	2tbsps
Juice of one lime	1 tbsp
Grated rind (zest)of lemon	1 lime
Pitted black olives  (optional)	6-7
Salt	As per taste

Method:

1. Wash, peel and dice the ripe mango.
2. Halve or slice the black olives.
3. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients (diced mango, chopped onions, chopped green chilies, chopped coriander leaves, lime juice, grated rind, sliced black olives and salt.
4. Serve it chilled after an hour.

Serves : 2

Baiganpally Mangoes

Mango Salsa (before adding black olives) with "Khakras"

Note:

• This can be served with any crispies  –  chips, tortillas or  khakras (a popular Indian (gujarati) snack made from wheat)
• I served it with “methi khakras” – it tasted delicious.