It seems to me that cabbage is shunned from most eating areas like a spoiled piece of meat. Which to me is a bad idea because cabbage can be an incredibly versatile and fun to use ingredient when cooking. You just have to do it right. Now I will say now that my mother is German and my father is Russian. With that out there I may be somehow magnetically drawn towards cabbage and other various things like borscht and beef stroganaff. But if more people would give cabbage a chance they might understand why I actually like it.
Now I use red cabbage in this because it is slightly sweeter tasting which matches the brininess of the capers really well and it looks really great presentation wise. But green works just fine as well but it looks incredibly boring when its finished but still tastes great. But moving on to cooking it. You really can only cook cabbage one way and if you mess it up you either get under cooked cabbage that will crack a tooth or baby food if you dont get it just right.
Some people like it really crispy and some people like it really, well baby food like. But I prefer mine perfectly in the middle. Not to crunchy and not too mushy. This way you get that satisfying crunch without too much crunch and the cabbage flavor is a lot more mellow and actually quite good.
I started eating cabbage actually pretty recently when I felt like eating some good quality sauerkraut to get back to jokingly get back in touch with my roots. But it turned out that I really liked it. SO I slowly transitioned into cooking with it and bada bing bada boom, I started eating it fairly regularly. By the way I would just like to say that I have never said “bada bing bada boom” in my entire life I have no idea what urged me to say that but I’m keeping it there. Anyways, I started experimenting and realized that even though cabbage is great it is pretty gross raw.
I have tried it over and over to eat it raw but every time I try to eat it raw my tongue arms itself for war. So instead my realization was to just cook it properly and you get a really easy, great tasting and very healthy meal. This dish actually kind of resembles an almost Mediterranean like flavor mixed with a stir fry and then just throwing in cabbage. Sounds gross, but its delicious.
Seriously just give it a try and you may just fall in love with an unexpected veggie.
- 3 oz cabbage
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 1 lemon wedge
- 1 garlic clove minced or crushed
- pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons cooking oil (I used walnut oil and wouldn't recommend coconut oil as it might impart a weird flavor.)
- Optional: cooked meat of your choice
- Heat oil in medium sized skillet over medium heat.
- Once hot add garlic and capers and fry until fragrant.
- Add cabbage and sautee for a minute then add any other things you want to add if you choose and continue to sautee and squeeze lemon juice from lemon wedge over it. The cabbage is done once it slightly starts to brown on the edges. About 2-4 minutes. (the cabbage should be limp and no longer hold its shape) Or until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve with lemon wedge for squeezing if you so choose and enjoy!
ooh this looks really colourful – must be good with all those antioxidants in it 🙂 Personally I’ve never had red cabbage outside of Christmas and the norwegian “sauerkraut” (which isnt really sauerkraut – its just boiled red cabbage with some applesauce and spices, not fermented which as far as I can remember proper sauerkraut is (which is why its so healthy – I never got into eating it, because it shouldn’t be heated or the nutrients will decrease – eating sauerkraut cold never appealed to me – do you have any tips for that?) Okay that was really ranty, sorry!)
Anyway – would you consider posting your sauerkraut recipe? Id love to try it 🙂
Thank you Kari. And yeah you don’t really want to heat real sauerkraut because it will destroy all of those great probiotics in it. But It goes great in a nice cold salad in my opinion and adds a nice saltiness at the same time. Or you can just eat it in a small bowl as a side. But this recipe is using raw cabbage not sauerkraut.
And I actually don’t have a Sauerkraut recipe but I may consider posting one eventually. I will let you know if I do.
Great, thanks 🙂
Ill have to try out putting some sauerkraut in my salad – that sounds interesting 🙂
I thought that you might like to know that I found you through Nom Nom Paleo’s “Happy Birthday” message to you – so, Happy Birthday! And, wow – way to go. You have done amazing work.
Question: For those of us who are semi-challenged in the kitchen (read: no kitchen scale and nowhere to put one), can/will you estimate approximately how many cups is 3 oz. of cabbage? Thanks!
Hi Ouida, thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes! I would estimate for the cabbage to be about a cup and a 1/2 or so of shredded cabbage.
First of all what a FANTASTIC blog! Good on you for following your passion and knowing what you want 🙂 I came across your site via Nom Nom Paleo’s Facebook page where she rightfully gave you some props 😉
I’m glad I have come across your site! Also this recipe looks fantastic! I love red cabbage! Have you ever paired it with apple? They work perfectly together.
Thank you so much Naz I really appreciate the kind words and I’m very glad you are enjoying my blog. And no I’ve never paired it with apples but I’m digging the savory sweet combo, that definitely sounds good. I bet it would go great with Jicama as well!
Jicama sounds good! The recipe from Balanced Bites is delicious!
I love cabbage and this sounds like a fabulous dinner! BTW, I also love the “bada bing…” LOL
Thanks so much for posting the weight rather than just saying 1/2 or 1/4 cabbage, etc. Recipes like that always irk me because vegetables can vary so much in size.
I’m trying this recipe out tonight. Love your photos.
You’re welcome Linda. I like to use that so people get just the right amount. I hope you enjoy it.