Bandh Gobi and Matar

(Cabbage and Peas)

Bandh Gobi often is seen as a ‘also ran’ vegetable, however, not only it is a very nutritious but an extremely tasty and versatile vegetable in my view. This, I hope to demonstrate in the next two entries. In North India we tend to see only one variety of Bandh Gobi, but in Britain we do see several, thanks I presume to the global vegetable and fruit travel! It is grown quite easily in the UK. The vegetable grower friends of mine tell me, not only do they love the Cabbage, but so do the slugs and other earthly creepy crawlies, so if you grow your own, you will need some slug repellants, I am not the best person for such advice as despite all my clever tricks most of my cabbage is eaten by the slugs . Bandh Gobi, looks like the leafy salad plants, but it is truly nearer to Broccoli and Cauliflower.  

The recipe for this dish is one of the quickies which could enter Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute cook book. For this particular dish I will use the whole cabbage, even though it may seem quite a lot. Don’t worry, as I intend to use the leftover for another recipe which will follow this one. Rest assured, you would be more than pleased with the second recipe, and  wonder ‘why cant we buy one and the second for half the price’ with everything else we cook. My mum would have said “you can” as she could convert virtually all left overs into something even better! I believe this was 1950’s austerity!!

Ingredients:

• One medium sized Bandh Gobi (cabbage)
  
• 200 gms frozen Peas
• 2 tsf whole Cumin seeds
• 1 Tej Patta (dried Bay leaf)
• 1/4 tsf Haldi powder (turmeric)
• 1/4 tsf Chilli powder
• 1 tsf Salt (to taste)
• 2 finely chopped green Chillis
• 1/2 tsf Sugar
• 1/2 tsf Garam Masala
• 5 tbsf Oil

Method:

1. Chop the cabbage finely into long shreds.
2. Defrost the peas by putting under running water.
3. Heat the oil in a wok over medium high flame.
4. When oil is hot put the cumin seeds and the Tej patta. Within a few seconds these will start to darken and splutter.
5. Put the shredded cabbage, peas and chopped green chilli and mix well.
6. Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and sugar. Give it a good mix.
7. Cover the wok and lower the heat to low. Let the vegetable cook usually takes 5-10 minutes. In between stir so the vegetables don’t catch at the bottom.
8. Sprinkle garam masala and gently stir and mix. Can remove the Tej patta before serving.