Will No One Rid Me of this Troublesome... Cabbage?
June 23, 2017 1:45 PM   Subscribe

We have been surprise-gifted with an extraordinary amount of red cabbage from a neighbor's extremely bountiful garden. Recipes needed! Bonus if the recipe somehow includes white carrots, because we have been gifted a shopping bag full of those as well.

Pickle it? Roast it? Fry it? Bake it? Put it in soup? I don't know! Give me your best recipes that feature red cabbage! And/or white carrots!
posted by erst to Food & Drink (29 answers total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I would do a big coleslaw with shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and whatever other add-ins/dressing you like. I'm particularly a fan of the more Asian-style slaws with red cabbage, so maybe raisins, sesame seeds, green onions, and a soy or tahini-based dressing. Plus, it lasts in the fridge longer than dairy-based dressings.
posted by rainbowbrite at 1:49 PM on June 23, 2017 [12 favorites]


Best answer: Shred them both . Add edamame and sesame seeds. Mix with Thai peanut or ginger garlic dressing.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 1:50 PM on June 23, 2017 [6 favorites]


Best answer: Shredded slaw with cilantro, jalapeño and a chipotle-lime crema. Asian style with edamame, black rice, carrots, scallions and a peanut dressing. Yum.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 1:52 PM on June 23, 2017 [4 favorites]


Best answer: There are many recipes for curtido, that one does not have a small minced jalapeno in it but you should consider doing so. (That recipe is specifically for red cabbage, but whatever. My go-to is Serious Eats's version.)

You can put as much or little carrot as you wish in it. This is fantastic on fish tacos, or really anything. I do routinely keep it a month or longer in the fridge. It gets hotter over time, so you may want to underestimate your jalapeno, or seed and spine it pretty good first. Or just enjoy the burn.
posted by Lyn Never at 1:56 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Borscht

Everyone just thinks of the beets but you can have borscht with one beet and half a cabbage and it tastes fine. Especially red cabbage means the colour is still very bright.
posted by RobotHero at 2:04 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Curtido: Pour boiling water over shredded cabbage and carrot and let sit five minutes, drain. Add sliced onion, minced jalapeño and oregano. Cover with mix of 1 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup water. Keeps (covered) in the fridge two weeks+, is lovely on tacos, sandwiches etc. or as a garnish/side. I add it to pasta salad sometimes. It's what I do when I have a cabbage I have been peeling off leaf by leaf for salads, leaving me with a sad little wilting cabbage ball that shames me from the crisper drawer. [ETA hi Lyn Never!]

I like cabbage on pizza tbh? Stays crunchy and imparts a nice mellow sweetness. I make a particularly weird one with a tofu "sour cream" base, sliced potato, onions, and red cabbage that (I must assure you, since no one will try it) is very good. It pairs well with normal pizza toppings, too.

Dumplings! Chopped fine with some combination of onion, carrot, green onion, tofu etc. Gyoza with wonton wrappers for faster turnaround, baozi with yeasted dough for something a bit more impressive. Make tonnes and freeze some for later.

Borscht if you like that kind of think [ETA hi RobotHero!]
posted by wreckingball at 2:08 PM on June 23, 2017 [3 favorites]


I love sweet & sour red cabbage. It's my Mom's recipe, so it's vague. Cook cabbage, drain, not very thoroughly - it's good to have a little bit of liquid left. Add sugar, start with @ 1 1/2T, add vinegar, start wit h @ 1 1/2T, stir well, taste, add sugar and/or vinegar to your taste. Add some salt. Some people add things like cloves, apples, bacon, cooked kielbasa, whatever. If you add bacon or sausage, add some of the cooking fat, mmm. It's basically hot pickled cabbage, so it keeps forever and can be eaten hot or cold.
posted by theora55 at 2:15 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: It's sauerkraut! The answer is sauerkraut! Grate the carrots and add them to the cabbage, then let them all ferment together into sauerkraut!
posted by mudpuppie at 2:29 PM on June 23, 2017 [10 favorites]


Best answer: I made a shrimp dish last week that was heavily inspired by this dish, which works well if you keep fish sauce and sesame oil on hand.

I pickle carrots for preserving with water bath canning, this serious eats recipe is a good place to start. I use a tall stock pot instead of an actual canning pot, and you can fold up a dish towel in the bottom of the pot if you don't have a rack. The jar lifter tongs are really the most critical of the canning specific tools, outside of the jars.

I also love roasted cabbage, just quarter it, leave the cores in. Brush with olive oil, salt, and maybe some herbs. I go anywhere from 350 to 400 degress, until its, ya know, tender.
posted by bilabial at 2:30 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: The online Epicurious recipe for red cabbage and apples is a family favorite. We are eating it tonight!
posted by Malla at 2:41 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Kimchi. You can Kimchi both veggies with no worries and it is so much easier than people think. If you're worried about fermenting things then just eat it fresh.
posted by wwax at 2:48 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Red cabbage makes a quick, delicious cooked side dish - take some cabbage, grate it coarsely and saute in your fat of choice over medium high heat in a wide pan for six to seven minutes. Season with some of the following: salt, pepper, hot sauce, butter, sour cream. It is really tasty and nutty.

If you started your grated carrots about a minute before adding the cabbage, you could use some of them, too.

I also really like Osaka-esque cabbage pancakes. I actually make mine vegetarian. The special yam and dashi are nice if you can get them, but it's a perfectly tasty pancake without, and I usually include some grated carrot. (Seriously, the special yam is good, though.)
posted by Frowner at 3:07 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Oh and okonomiyaki. Which I'll admit is probably not the most efficient method of cabbage use, but tasty. A key point for me when learning to make it is the correct flattening technique? Like, at first, you'll want to flatten it with one big press right in the middle but I find doing lots of little presses with the tip of the spatula instead works better to flatten it without making it fall apart.
posted by RobotHero at 3:14 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: 4 pages of cabbage recipes from Budget Bytes here. Some of them use green cabbage but substituting red is probably fine.
posted by Red Desk at 3:45 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Smitten Kitchen's Date, Feta and Red Cabbage Salad is delicious.
posted by bunderful at 4:02 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Pretty giant cabbage rolls! Core out the base and drop into a big pot of simmering water. With tongs, pull off each leaf as it comes easily loose. Since you have so much cabbage, just take off the biggest nicest ones, take the remaining cabbage out of the water and into an ice bath, and pop in the next head to harvest its big pretty leaves.

Shred some of the remaining outer cabbage for filling and tucking in among the rolls to keep everything steady as it cooks. The inside of the cabbages will still be raw and crisp so you can use those for other recipes as you see fit that don't need big whole leaves. Cabbage rolls take very well to being frozen so you can make a big batch now, portion it out, and freeze to eat months later when you're no longer sick of cabbage.

Take each separated leaf and shave off any protruding rib so it bends nicer, set aside. You can do this like, a day ahead and keep the leaves in the fridge if you want.

The filling and sauce are up to you. There are a million different recipes for cabbage rolls. Definitely shred some of the white carrots and use those too. For meat ones I like a combination of pork and beef or lamb, I once accidentally bought ground veal and it was delicious too, with minced onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms, some extra cabbage, lots of minced garlic, toasted caraway seeds, hungarian paprika, cumin, S&P, a big dash of maggi sauce or worcestershire, an egg for binding. I layer in extra sliced onions and cabbage among the rolls and fill with a combination of crushed tomato, water, vinegar, a little sugar, salt. Sometimes I skip the tomato and do some kind of stock instead, chicken stock if they're mostly pork. Sometimes I put lemon in there too. For vegetarian cabbage rolls I like lots of nuts and dried apricots with barley, bulgur, brown rice, and some kind of mild curry spice mix and lots of fresh herbs like parsley and mint. In your case maybe add grated beet so everything is SUPER PINK. That'd be fun. Normally I'd do a vegetable broth heavy on the onion, or a very lemony thing with slices of lemon layered between the rolls. Almost every cuisine has a cabbage roll variation (chinese style cabbage rolls are more delicate and lovely, you typically steam them) and pretty much anything can be stuffed into a cabbage leaf and cooked and it'll be pretty and delicious. I like to partially cook most of my vegetable and grain ingredients first and mix that all in with raw meat and spices before filling and simmering.

Okay to make them first oil the bottom of a big pot and then put some of the ugly/broken/too small/shredded cabbage leaves in the bottom of the pot. This is so nothing sticks.

Take a leaf, spoon a small amount of filling into a spot just below center. Roll it up like a burrito, start at the rib (you can trim this if it's hard to roll) and fold over the filling, tucking it back in so it's tidy. Fold over each side, and then roll it up so the loose end is on the bottom. Don't overfill!

Place each completed cabbage roll into the pot. You want to keep everything pretty close and well packed, start around the outside and go in. When you've filled up one layer, add some more shredded cabbage and onion (and maybe carrot in your case) a little salt and pepper and then start on your next layer. If you have filling remaining when you've run out of cabbage leaves, you can make meatballs and tuck them in there too. (Add some more binder like egg or soggy breadcrumb if you're doing grain based veggie ones so the balls hold together.)

Fill up to just the level of the top rolls with your liquid of choice. Typically I dump in the flavor thing like tomato or wine or pickling liquid or stock and then fill the rest up with water. Shake a little to get rid of air pockets. Place some leaf pieces on top of all of that so the tops don't dry out and bring to a simmer. Simmer for eeeeeeeeeeevvveerrrrrrrrrr (a few hours typically, depending on the amount you have and your pot and all of the normal kitchen variables) until the sauce tastes delicious and the rolls have firmed up all the way through, the cabbage is tender and the onions have pretty much broken down. You might need to top it up with a little water over time.

For serving, if you've done a more eastern european type of cabbage roll, it's nice to take some of the sauce and mix it separately with some sour cream and then pour that artistically over the cabbage rolls. Yours will be super purple so it'd be extra pretty on a green plate or with a fresh salad of delicate greens.
posted by Mizu at 4:04 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: I recommend this delicious and simple North Indian and Pakistani home style cooking dish that I grew up on. I have only made it with green cabbage, but I imagine red would be good with the extra sweetness.

Shred enough cabbage to fill about 3 cup measures.
Heat a thin layer of mustard oil (or canola) over medium-high heat in a deep pan until it shimmers then drop in 1 tbsp mustard seeds and quickly cover (they will start popping like popcorn).
Once all the popping has died down, lift the lid and add the cabbage. Sautee the cabbage turning about once every minute so it browns a little. It's done when brown on the edges and starting to wilt but still a bit crisp (about 5-6 minutes).

Salt to taste and serve.

Variations:

Use caraway seeds instead of mustard seeds (these won't pop so just toast them about 45 seconds before adding the cabbage)

Add a sprinkle of cumin or garam masala when you add the cabbage.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 4:29 PM on June 23, 2017 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Okay, there are lots of cabbage recipes. But THIS one is Grandma's Bavarian Red Cabbage:

BAVARIAN RED CABBAGE

Saute until limp: 1 large onion, chopped
Add: 1 large head red cabbage, cored and finely shredded
Cook, stirring often, until cabbage begins to wilt.

Add: 2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 C red wine vinegar (or dry red wine)

Mix well; cover and cook over very low heat until cabbage is very tender, about 2 hours. Add water if necessary to keep cabbage from scorching.

Add and mix until melted:1/2 red current jelly (or any red jelly or jam, truth be told)

Turn heat to high and cook uncovered, stirring frequently, until liquid has evaporated.

This freezes (we do in two portion servings) and reheats beautifully.

*** Eat the carrots; don't cook them. Enjoy the difference. My favorite way to eat carrots is to dunk them into a container of hummus.
posted by kestralwing at 4:33 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: The classic German recipe would be Blaukraut (I like making it with ponegranate syrup). But it's more of a cold season dish, typically eaten with duck, goose or pork roast.
In summer, I would totally 2nd the sauerkraut suggestion above, including shredded carrots. Yum.
posted by The Toad at 4:36 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: Slice into one inch thick circle sections, drizzle in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt, saute in a flat pan on the stove or on the grill until crispy.
posted by coevals at 4:50 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: Moo shu!
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 5:06 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: I put a ridiculous amount of shredded cabbage and carrots in my fried rice. It cooks down quite a bit and adds a nice sweetness.
posted by moira at 5:20 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Cabbage gets all the love here, it seems.

Carrots = carrot cake (or cupcakes) which freezes well for future goodness. Leave off the icing for those you'll be freezing. Nom the rest. Yum.

My mom makes a simple salad with shredded carrots and raisins plus a touch of mayo to hold it together. I personally hate it, but then there's no accounting for taste unless you count carrot cake which is always fantastic.

Did I mention that carrot cake holds up fine when shipped to North Carolina?
posted by mightshould at 5:37 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Juice the red cabbages, paint the juice onto a raw wood product, then seal the wood.

Use the solids of the juiced cabbage in many of the recipes listed above.
posted by aniola at 6:17 PM on June 23, 2017


Not for eating, but red cabbage juice is a great pH indicator -- turns blue if you add a base, pinker if you add acid.
posted by batter_my_heart at 7:08 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: Sauteed red cabbage with caramelized onions is great, add vinegar at the end.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:12 PM on June 23, 2017


Best answer: A marmalade of cabbage and onions, served on toast or use it as a pizza topping.
posted by SyraCarol at 5:57 AM on June 24, 2017


How do you feel about meat? Lumpia is basically Filipino egg rolls with ground pork, shredded cabbage and carrots and a sincere amount of minced garlic and soy sauce. Every one I've made it for likes it. Memail me and I'll give you a more detailed recipe.
posted by Bistyfrass at 8:27 AM on June 24, 2017


Best answer: Late to the party, but I made braised red cabbage for dinner last night, and it was so freaking tasty, I think it warrants a share in here.

For the braised red cabbage: Cut a large red cabbage into quarters and remove the hard white core. Slice each quarter into thin ribbons. Melt 4 tablespoons butter in sturdy Dutch oven. Add the cabbage along with 3 tablespoons brown sugar (less is OK if you're not a sweet fan), 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, a pinch of ground cloves, a good sprinkle of salt, and a pinch of caraway seeds. I let it come to a boil, then reduced the heat to medium-low, covered it, and eat delicious braised cabbage about 1.5 hours later.
posted by PearlRose at 9:18 AM on June 26, 2017


« Older Innovative jobs programs for people with barriers...   |   Time vs Distance Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.