Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Cabbage Chutney (South Indian Cabbage Pachadi) is a vegan, vegetarian South Indian condiment, side dish made with simple everyday ingredients in about 25 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Condiment, Side Dish
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil ((gingelly oil))
  • 1 teaspoon urad dal ((split and husked black gram))
  • 1 teaspoon chana dal ((split and husked bengal gram))
  • 2.5 cups chopped cabbage
  • 1 to 3 green chilies (- add as needed)
  • 10 to 12 curry leaves (or 1 sprig curry leaves)
  • salt (as required)
  • 1 teaspoon tamarind
  • ⅓ to ½ cup water (- for blending chutney)
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1 pinch asafoetida ((hing))
  • 1 or 2 dry red chilies ((halved and seeds removed))

Method

Sautéing Chutney Ingredients

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a frying pan. Add the urad dal (split and husked black gram) and chana dal (split and husked bengal gram)
  2. Fry the lentils on a low heat till they turn golden and fragrant. Take care not to burn them.
  3. Add chopped green chilies. For less spiciness add half of a green chili or or 1 green chili. For a more spicy chutney, you can even add 2 to 3 green chilies.
  4. Next add the curry leaves. Stir and mix..
  5. Add the chopped cabbage. If you want you can blanch the cabbage in hot boiling water for 5 minutes prior to sautéing the ingredients. Drain all the water and then add the blanched cabbage.
  6. Season with salt as per taste. Mix very well.

Cooking cabbage

  1. Cover the pan with its lid and cook the cabbage on a low heat for 9 to 10 minutes. In between do check while the cabbage is cooking. Stir and again cover & cook.
  2. If the cabbage starts sticking to the pan. Add in a splash of water. Mix and deglaze the pan. Cover and continue to cook.
  3. The cabbage should be half cooked or almost cooked. There should be a slight crunch in them. Do not cook them completely. Let the cabbage mixture become warm or cool at room temperature.
  4. Now add the cabbage mixture in a blender or grinder. Add 1 teaspoon tamarind.
  5. Add ⅓ to ½ cup water and blend to a smooth and fine chutney.
  6. Remove the chutney in a bowl. Do scrape off all the chutney sticking at the bottom and sides of the mixer jar and add it into the bowl.

Tempering

  1. Heat 1 to 2 teaspoons sesame oil in the same pan or in another pan. Lower the flame and add ½ teaspoon mustard seeds and let them crackle.
  2. When the mustard seeds finish crackling, add a pinch of asafoetida and 1 or 2 red chilies.
  3. Stir and mix well.
  4. Add the tempering mixture to the ground chutney. Mix well.

Serving Suggestions

  1. Serve cabbage chutney with South Indian snacks like Idli, Dosa, Medu Vada, Adai or Upma.
  2. You can also eat it as a side dish with dal-rice or sambar-rice or rasam-rice.
  3. It also tastes good as a side with plain steamed rice or rice gruel (porridge) and some roasted papadums by the side. Simply mix the chutney with the steamed rice or the savory rice porridge.

Storage

  1. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator for a day only. Before serving, let the cabbage pachadi come at room temperature.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.