Cabbage Pachadi

My mother-in-law keeps telling me about the weirdest pachadi’s ever. I have never tasted them or heard about them before and neither has my mom. My mother-in-law learned a few from her mom, a few more from her mother-in-law and a few more from neighbors. Her bendakaya pachadi and cabbage pachadi are apparently from her mom. I have never had VJ’s grandmother’s food, but I have been told she cooks really well (like all grandmothers). I definitely miss eating all the pickles and chutney’s that I get to eat in India. I miss home mostly for food. The food that’s available here – the food the way mom or my mother-in-law makes are not available in the USA, and even if I try and replicate them, they still taste good, but not the same.

There is some magic in the hands of our parents. The dishes that they create cannot be replicated to produce the same taste. I hope it’s the same for Arlo when he tastes my food and in the future when he starts cooking by himself. I don’t get much praise from VJ, but now and then he asks me to make something that he liked. My in-laws home is quite similar. No one talks about the food that they liked. My mother-in-law from experience knows which item VJ and his brother like the best. But my parents are quite the opposite. If we like something we shout over the rooftops telling how much we loved it. We tell others and make sure they know how much we loved something that mom made. My sister still tells that to me every time she eats my food. This pachadi is one such recipe where I can yell from rooftops and say this is an amazing pachadi.

Ingredients

Cabbage – 250 grams (approximately 0.55 lbs)

Tamarind – 50 grams (approximately 0.11 lbs)

Salt – 50 grams (approximately 0.11 lbs or as required)

Red Chili Powder – 50 grams (approximately 0.11 lbs)

Turmeric – 2 teaspoons

Fenugreek seeds – 1 tablespoon

Oil – 1/2 cup

Mustard Seeds – 1 tablespoon

Cumin Seeds – 1 tablespoon

Asafoetida – 1 teaspoon

Dried Red Chilies – 2

How to make

Step 1: Chop cabbage into a bowl. Add salt and turmeric, mix it well with your hands. Once mixed, keep the bowl in a tilted position so that the water oozes out from the cabbage.

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Step 2: Keep the bowl tilted aside, at least for a night (mother in law left it aside for 24 hours). When the water oozes out, soak the tamarind in the oozed out water, until the tamarind is soft.

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Step 3: In a pan once hot, add the fenugreek seeds and dry roast them until they turn a little red.

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Step 4: In a food processor jar, add the fenugreek seeds and make them into a powder. Keep the powder aside.

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Step 5: In the food processor jar, now add the tamarind and a few pieces of the cabbage. Make it into a fine paste.

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Step 6: Add the red chili powder and the fenugreek seed powder into the jar, and make sure it all mixes together.

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Step 7: Now add this paste to the cabbage pieces that have been marinated well in salt. Mix them well so that all the pieces are coated with the tamarind and red chili powder paste.

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Step 8: In a pan add oil. Let it become hot, and then add mustard seeds, cumin seeds ad dried red chilies. Add the asafoetida and turn off the stove.

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Step 9: Do not add the oil to the cabbage when it’s hot. When the oil has cooled down, add it to the cabbage and mix it well.

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Step 10: Serve it with hot rice or upma.

❤️
Po