Thursday, June 21, 2012

Colourful Mexican - or how to use up cabbage

Prior to this year, I don't think I had eaten cabbage since I was a child. I have never liked coleslaw (even the thought makes me feel slightly ill) and cooked cabbage doesn't usually seem that exciting. Cabbage has been one of those vegetables that I skip over when buying produce and just don't give much thought to.

That changed when I went to Sydney in May. The lunches for our training course were catered, and day 1 included a cabbage-based salad with cabbage (obviously), carrot, capsicum, spring onions, and a dressing of lime and chilli. Even now it sings in my memory. I had the salad alongside rice paper rolls filled with tofu and mushrooms, and the combination was blissful. The only downside is that it made lunches for days 2 through 4 look bad by comparison - I had hoped for a similar menu each day, but things reverted to rolls and sandwiches and other more boring (to me) fare.

Since then, I have been thinking about possible uses for cabbage. I am yet to recreate the lime and chilli salad of Sydney, but I did make Angela's Over the Rainbow Cabbage Salad with Tahini Lemon Dressing from Oh She Glows.


It was impressively colourful and surprisingly flavoursome. My version omitted the sesame seeds but otherwise followed Angela's recipe closely, although I did find that I preferred the salad warm (just heated through in the microwave before serving) rather than cold.

I made a decent batch of the salad, but I had bought half a cabbage and the salad only required a quarter. Cabbage is definitely a vegetable that expands when chopped!


The challenge of what to do with the remainder was solved by plans for His and Hers versions of stacked quesadillas. I have posted the recipe that Mr Bite likes previously - a fairly standard vegetarian recipe that includes beans, avocado and cheese, with several layers of tortilla bread. My version is usually similar but omits the avocado (I still only like avocado when it's turned into dessert...) and cheese.

This time, I also added cabbage to my batch. It worked surprisingly well. In fact, I would go so far as to say that it worked very well and may become a regular inclusion in my Mexican dishes from now on.

I didn't take a photo of the quesadillas, but did photograph the leftover filling. As with the salad, it was happily colourful. I actually found that I enjoyed the filling even more plain than I did in the quesadilla dish, and it has proved a perfect match for our recent wintery weather.



Colourful Mexican with cabbage

Makes 2 serves

Ingredients
1 small onion, diced
1/4 purple cabbage, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1 yellow capsicum, thinly sliced
~1/4 cup mushrooms, peeled and diced
~2/3 tin kidney beans, canneloni beans or beans of choice (I used a 4-bean mix), drained
4 tbsp salsa, mild or spicy to taste (mine was spicy)
4 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Saute the onion in the bottom of a large saucepan.

Add all other ingredients and stir over low - medium heat for approximately 15 minutes. 

Serve with tortilla bread, baked potato, or plain with a side of crackers.


Cabbage, it seems I under-estimated you.

Next up - that salad with lime and chilli!

Are you a cabbage fan? If so, do you have any favourite uses for it?

22 comments:

  1. I've never been a big fan of coleslaw either and really do prefer cooked cabbage over raw. My favourite recipe that features cabbage is an Indian dish called punjabi cabbage. I also like it shredded into stir-frys sometimes. Purple cabbage is so much prettier than the standard green variety, your salad looks lovely!

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    1. Shredded into stir fry sounds like a great idea actually. I'll have to try that!

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  2. I eat a lot of napa cabbage. They are great when you steam them! I usually use them in a wrap - rice, chicken, veggies, a lil' bit of sauce (soy, garlic, sriracha)! I haven't really had red cabbage, and I'm looking forward to trying this recipe!!

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    1. Steamed in a wrap with sauce does sound rather good! Thanks for the suggestion :)

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  3. This looks so colourful. My husband doesn't like cabbage either, mostly because it was all his mother would cook when he was growing up. I like it though. Recently I made a pickled purple cabbage with apples and walnuts to go with confit duck. I know you don't eat duck but the pickled cabbage even on its own was great and my husband loved it! I think it's all in the cooking and clearly you have found a way to love cabbage too! xx

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    1. Oh yes! Now I know I can like cabbage, all these recipes I previously didn't give much thought to can now be seriously considered. Pickled cabbage sounds like a great option to try.

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  4. I love cabbage in stews and fried rice but I am ambivalent about it raw. I highly recommend trying it roasted - this is amazingly good and makes it taste like a new vegetable. I love the idea of it in a quesadilla - I rarely have mexican meals with cabbage but the idea appeals

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    1. I can imagine that roasted would work incredibly well actually. And it would be perfect for winter weather - thank you :)

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  5. That looks awesome Kari - never been a big fan of cabbage but that looks like I could change my mind!

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    1. Thanks Liz! And yes, it seems there is more to cabbage than I ever thought :P

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  6. I get ill when I think about coleslaw also! Yuck. but this is a total yum. LOVE the sound of that tahini dressing.

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    1. Thanks Joanne - it was pretty great! I imagine it could go on a whole range of things too.

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  7. lol, Greg hates coleslaw too!! I don't even know why~But a few weeks ago I made a healthy and really good coleslaw and he was actually okay with it! That's a score to me....;) And you know what's a great way to use up cabbage?! Try sauteing it with carrots, soy sauce, onions, tofu, etc. and then put it in an eggroll wrap to bake! And ta-da! You have a delicious and healthy eggroll. :D And thank you so much for choosing me for the super unexpected award! haha. I would have never chosen myself for that one, but I'm thankful you even thought of me. <33

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    1. This sauteing / stir fry method sounds like it is a winner! I'm definitely going to have to try it out.

      And you are very welcome :) I'll look forward to your random fact!

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  8. pretty pretty!!! yea, i do like cabbage. :) sorry, no help in uses tho!! i am in love with mexican food, i think it's my fav. cuisine...and i'm like u and not a big avocado fan...but i actually don't like it any which way. :P

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    1. Thank goodness for someone else who doesn't like avocado in its plain form - although I think there would be hope for you yet with avocado desserts :P Mexican is a huge favourite of mine at the moment too (I go through phases with it and right now it's in a 'good' phase!).

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  9. We never really ate much cabbage growing up, but when I first moved out and was a PhD student, I always had some in the fridge. Cheap FTW!

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    1. Now I think I must be officially old, because I don't know what FTW stands for :/ This might be the start of a serious downhill trend...

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  10. Yum! These look amazing! I saw on a blog (a while back) how someone had roasted cabbage, similar to root veggies. It looked pretty good! :)
    The color of purple cabbage is so pretty. :)

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    1. Thanks Brandi! And that roasting idea sounds wonderful, I am going to have to try it out.

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  11. Oh this looks incredible!!
    Isn't it funny how you thought you didn't like a certain food, but prepared a certain way, you really like it!?! I have tried shrimp a few times and never cared for it. The boy made it with this amazing marindade..and I loved it!!

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    1. Ah, funny :) It is one of those amusing things, and also such a nice one - it makes new discoveries possible!

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