Here's my simple, beginner-friendly cabbage curry recipe made with mostly pantry ingredients. Serve this nourishing Indian side dish or sabzi with roti or dal and rice.
Table of Contents
Simple Indian cabbage curry
Cabbage curry is a simple sauté of shredded cabbage seasoned with Indian spices like mustard seeds, ginger, garlic and turmeric. Side dishes like these, called sabzi in north India and kari in the south, are served for dinner in Indian homes every day. They are simple, light, and need few ingredients. But they are extremely nourishing and they let the natural deliciousness of the veggies come through.
This cabbage curry has been one of my favorite sabzis for as long as I can remember, second only to stir-fried okra. I love that it's versatile enough to serve with dal-rice or roti, but I also love that to make it, I only have to chop half a cabbage. There are no onions or tomatoes in this recipe, and I already have a jar of ginger-garlic paste sitting in my fridge.
If you are a beginner, this is one of the simplest Indian recipes you can make. The cabbage cooks up silky-soft and almost melts in the mouth. I also love how this curry looks with those beautiful, turmeric-stained shreds of cabbage.
Cooking cabbage is a healthier way to eat it. I love this versatile veggie raw in foods like coleslaw and salads, but raw cabbage can be harder to digest and it can also negatively impact people like myself who struggle with hypothyroidism. Cabbage has goitrogenic substances that can further block the thyroid's ability to use iodine, which is necessary for the thyroid to function normally. Cooking cabbage can lessen these goitrogenic properties so you can enjoy this veggie and its health benefits when you eat it in normal quantities.
P.S. Speaking of delicious Indian cabbage recipes, be sure to check out my recipes for cabbage rice, gobi paratha (flatbreads stuffed with cabbage) and veg Manchurian, a beloved Indo-Chinese dish.
Recipe card
Easy Cabbage Curry
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon asafetida or hing (hing, optional)
- 1 small green chili pepper (like jalapeno or serrano, finely chopped or minced. Deseed and remove ribs if sensitive to heat, but a little heat is nice in this simple recipe)
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste (If you don't have this crush three cloves of garlic with a ½ inch knob of ginger and use)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ large head cabbage (about 6 cups. Finely chopped into thin, bite-size shreds))
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil over high heat and add the mustard seeds. Let them sputter. Stir in asafetida if using.
- Working over medium low heat now, stir the minced green chili pepper and ginger garlic paste into the wok. Sauté them for just about a minute. Turn the heat down to the lowest point on your stove and stir in the turmeric. It's important to turn down the heat here because you don't want the powdered spice to burn. Sauté the turmeric for just about 30 seconds.
- Add the cabbage to the wok along with half a teaspoon of salt and quickly mix it all together. Turn the heat back up to medium-high and sauté until the cabbage begins to soften.
- Cover the wok or skillet with a lid. Use a rimmed lid if possible--one that can hold some water in it. This is a neat technique used in Indian homes to steam veggies without adding water directly to them, which would dilute their flavor. Pour a couple of tablespoons of water on the lid carefully, making sure that it stays on the lid and doesn't get on the stove. If you don't have a rimmed lid that can hold the water, just keep the heat turned to the lowest point, cover, and check the veggies frequently to make sure they don't burn.
- Stir the cabbage occasionally. How long you want to cook the cabbage is up to you. Some like the cabbage to retain a bit of al dente texture, others, like me, like it soft and silky. I cook the cabbage for around 10 minutes, but for a more toothsome texture you can turn off the heat sooner. You can also let the cabbage brown at the bottom of the wok--it adds nice flavor to the curry.
- Add salt and finish with cilantro. Once the cabbage has cooked to your liking check salt and add more if needed. Stir in the cilantro. Serve hot.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
Cabbage curry FAQs
Absolutely. No change to cooking time or flavor. You can even use savoy cabbage in this recipe.
Cooked this way the cabbage curry has 51 calories in each serving, 3 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of protein and 3 grams of fat. You can cut down on the fat further by using just one teaspoon of oil. For those watching their carbs, there are four grams of net carbs in each serving.
You absolutely can. Lots of veggies can be sautéed with these same spices, including cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, broccoli and winter squash.
Cabbage curry is delicious with roti/chapati or with basmati rice and a simple dal like this dal tadka or tomato dal. You can also serve it with my vegetable curry and basmati rice.
Refrigerate leftovers for up to three days in an airtight container.
For longer storage freeze the curry for up to three months. Reheat in the microwave or in a wok before serving.
Dawn says
Love this cabbage curry recipe, it’s so simple and tasty.
javed naser says
Hi,
I added a dash of Lemon juice. I used Napa cabbage and red cabbage. I also used Thai hot peppers and Tomato. It all came out very tasty. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Kind Regards
Javed Naser
Alina says
Made it today, and went also for adding most of the extra ingredients you suggested, such as curry leaves, onion, garam masala and curry powder.
Didn’t have the rest on hand (urad dal isn’t easy to come by locally) but I’ll make sure next time to add the peas and coconut milk or roasted desiccated coconut flakes.
Can’t wait!
Absolutely Loved it!
Thank you so much, dear Vaishali. ♥️
Sher Allan says
Loved this first time I made it, added to my collection and will try other variations. Nice change from sauce heavy curries.
Vaishali says
So happy you loved it!
kate says
Step 2: add the minced Add the spices...? Thank you.
Vaishali says
Hi Kate, typo on my part. 🙂 Changed now. Thanks for pointing out.