Curry Indian Cabbage

Fried cabbage with Indian seasonings is great. If you love curry and all the things you can put it in this one is for you. Whether you make this green vegetable during St Patricks Day and that is it, or you’re like us and cook it year round it’s easy to do. Add red pepper flakes for heat or not, it’s super versatile.

We have made the “traditional” Southern fried cabbage on the stovetop before. That has a saltier flavor with soy sauce and bacon bits. Still incredibly good but a totally different flavor profile for sure. Depending on what you’re making as your main dish you might want something wit a bit more flare.

Let’s say you’re making our Instant Pot butter chicken recipe, you would want to keep with that flavor profile as far as Indian food side dishes might go. If you make Indian recipes every now and then you should already have the seasonings you’ll need in your spice rack. The main ones are curry, cumin and coriander. If you don’t have them I’ll provide a link below.

What Type of Cabbage to Use

The most common is green, second to that would be Napa cabbage. I do not recommend purple (or sometimes called red) as that is really firm and the texture won’t be ideal. It also had much thicker leaves which makes it harder for them to soak up the flavor of the seasonings.

How to Cut Cabbage to Saute

We show you how to cut cabbage a number of different ways, that is really up to you. I just sliced the head in half and then sliced into slender pieces. You could chop into smaller cole slaw like pieces too if you wanted to. Keep in mind that the smaller the pieces are the quicker they will soften. You will want to keep an eye on it if you want to keep a bit of texture to it still.

Best Seasonings

You can definitely add a bit of turmeric powder we like in our Instant Pot cauliflower curry. Mustard seeds would add a bit of tang. A bit of heat with green chilis or red pepper flakes works well. Use whole cumin seeds instead of ground for a more intense flavor. Try some curry leaves if you like. You can serve cabbage with a bit of grated fresh coconut on the top like you do with cabbage poriyal

Does coconut milk make curry less spicy?

I wouldn’t say that curry is spicy but yes it can be an intense flavor that you might want to tone down a bit. The best and most traditional way would be to add coconut milk to your dish. Use regular vs. a low fat version.

Another benefit to using canned coconut milk is that the dish will remain dairy free if that is a concern for your household (it is for ours). Of course another alternative is to add less seasoning all together too. We do this with our oxtail curry.

What can I add to make Indian cabbage more flavorful?

I mean if you think the seasonings aren’t bold enough for you in this one I would be surprised. BUT if that is the case you might want to use whole spices instead of ground and heat them in the oil to release those flavors first. Whole boasts more intense flavors. We use many of the same blends to make this as our curry fried chicken too.

There are a ton of variations on how to cook cabbage. Adding small bits of other vegetables to steam with it is a given. The most popular choice would be fresh green peas. You could toss these with garam masala before adding to make them more Indian style veggies. Other variations and choices to add would be;

If you’re pretty sure some may want to tone down the flavor you could have a small pitcher of coconut milk available on the table. Then if someone wants it they can pour a bit on, fold it in, and cream it as they wish. To add a chana dal flare to it you would want to cook Instant Pot lentil curry on the side and fold them in when tender to your liking.

This was made in a skillet, you could use a Dutch Oven too. Something with a lid is a must so you can steam it for a bit and get it softened nicely. You could follow the instructions and timing for our Instant Pot fried cabbage if you wanted to use your pressure cooker instead. That cuts down the timing quite a bit, usually our go to resource.

If I do it with that method I will make a batch of our Instant Pot chicken Curry first and as that is resting I will make some of this to serve it all together for a meal. Delicious both hot and cold, we sometimes use extras to make a salad or make quick pickled cabbage with it as a side dish.

Can you save cooked cabbage?

You can but realize that it will change the texture. When cooled and stored in the fridge it will continue to soften the longer it sits. I am a big texture person so I won’t leave it longer than 24 hours. When I am ready I will either eat it cold as is or warmed like air fryer cabbage so it adds a bit of crisp to the edges.

The latter is typically the way to go for me but to each their own. I hate wasting food so I like providing a few options, this one is great cold and warm really. Let us know if you add something else we hadn’t mentioned you thought worked out well!