Garlic Ginger Curried Cabbage

One of the great things about getting a CSA delivery is trying to figure out what to make with everything that comes in it. It’s almost like a puzzle. “These two things will becomes this meal, I”ll use this to make a side dish, I’ll use this tomorrow.”

Well last week I asked around the office for ideas, specifically on what do to with the giant head of cabbage. I’ve made coleslaw before, but that didn’t sound the exciting. Plus I would have to make paleo mayonnaise first since we threw out all of our store-bought mayo. My coworker suggested making soup. Which is not a bad idea and I might attempt that in the future. But I kept looking through my RSS feed of blogs for something different.

And then I found it Garlic Ginger Curried Cabbage. It would not only use the cabbage, but also the organic garlic AND ginger that was in the CSA box. And thanks to some stocking up of staples in my kitchen recently, I had all of the ingredients.

• 1/2 head of cabbage ( Or a full one. Mine happened to be huge )
• 1 can coconut milk ( I used the Trader Joe’s Light)
• 1 chunk of fresh ginger, peeled, minced
• 6 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 tbsp of lemon juice
• 3 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp chili sauce
• Oil for cooking ( I used olive oil)

By the way, for those of you who have never seen fresh ginger before, here is the chunk that I used. To be completely honest, this was one of my top reasons for ordering this CSA box in the first place. So many yummy things are made with ginger: ginger tea, ginger cookies….ginger ale. OK maybe the last one is a stretch, but you get what I’m saying.

I was bad and didn’t take good photos, but first I cut off the little numbs and then peeled it with a regular peeler. It was a little scary peeling it because it’s so small and the blade was pretty close to my fingers. But I found if you hold it down on the cutting board, not up in your hand, and push the peeler down towards the board, you’re less likely to slice your finger.

In a big pan, start to saute your onions and garlic in a little olive oil. Cook until the onions start to get soft and translucent. Then add your minced ginger, curry powder, salt, coconut milk, lemon juice and chili sauce and bring to a low boil.

Now, here’s where we get real. I wasn’t sure if I was going to say this or not, but full disclosure: I used Sriracha as my chili sauce. Which, in case you didn’t know yet, is not Whole30 approved ::gasp:: I know I know. I had another can of chili sauce in my fridge but when I opened it, discovered there was something growing inside it. Eeew. But my coconut mixture was cooking quickly on the stove and I panicked. And grabbed the Sriracha. And you know what, it was delicious.

Anyway, now that that’s over with, cook your coconut mixture so that the sauce starts to thicken. The original recipe says for 1.5 – 2 hours. I quickly noticed mine thicken in less than 5 minutes. I have no clue how she got hers to cook that long. Just keep your eye on it.

So after 5 minutes, I threw my chopped cabbage in and cooked it for an extra 20-30 minutes on low heat.

Then for dinner, I cooked up some chicken sausage in a separate pan and put it on top. I’m pretty happy with the way this turned out. The cabbage was spicy but at the same time creamy because of the coconut milk. And the texture reminded me a bit of noodles. Will definitely be putting this on my list of quick vegetable sides dishes to make during the week.