Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Indian-Scented Spin on a Jewish Staple

This yellow cabbage and edamame dish will warm the Indian Eastern European in you. Photograph by Hadas Margulies

A good cabbage dish is one of my favorite gift’s from my Eastern European ancestors. A head of cabbage is cheap, huge and its fairly neutral flavor allows so much room for creativity.

Now that it’s getting cold in New York, I’m all about warming, Indian-inspired spices and sizzling side dishes. This one is quick and easy and doesn’t require too many ingredients. All of the vegetables should be chopped fairly small, but the size isn’t particularly important. If you don’t already have these spices at home, they’re worth the investment. The mix I have for you here is extremely effective in brightening up most vegetables. And of course, as a holistic nutrition student, I’m all about the immune-boosting spices and herbs. Turmeric, ginger and garlic are said to fend off unwanted sniffles; cumin is packed with nutrition, especially blood-building iron, and chili powder will kick-start your metabolism.

Bring it on, Fall, bring it on.

Indian-Scented Cabbage

1 tablespoon coconut or olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 head cabbage, chopped
1 package frozen edamame
1 medium tomato, chopped
Salt to taste (about 1 teaspoon)
¼ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon coriander
Cilantro or dill to garnish

1) Heat up your oil in a deep pot on medium heat. About a tablespoon will do it. I recommend coconut oil, as it is the most heat-resistant oil.

2) Once the oil is hot, add your chopped onion, garlic, and ginger. Saute until the onions are translucent.

3) Add the cabbage, tomato, and edamame.

4) Spice them up and stir.

5) Lower the flame and cover the pot. Let it sit for 7-10 minutes, until the cabbage is tender and slightly translucent.

6) Garnish with fresh cilantro or dill.

Hadas Margulies is the new food intern at the Forward. Find her at HadasMargulies

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.