Sunday was Mother’s Day. And because my mom isn’t around anymore, I couldn’t make her a meal or call her on the phone. But I pulled out a tablecloth that I had picked up when I was visiting with my dad in April. It’s an object that is full of memories as it was on our table every Sunday or special occasion when I was little. It’s definitely retro with it’s vintage flower vase print and it felt right to put it on our table yesterday for dinner.
This isn’t fancy food at all. It’s an incredibly simple dish made with inexpensive ingredients. Potatoes. Onion. Cabbage. Carrots. Turmeric and cumin lend colour and flavour and I threw in some cooked French lentils to make this a good main dish meal. It’s a top-of-the-stove braised dish with no liquids needed. Just cover and let it do its thing. The vegetables will break down and get tender and in about an hour you’ll have something fragrant and hearty to eat alongside brown rice or your favourite grain.
turmeric-spiced potatoes, carrots & cabbage
2-3 T olive oil
1/2 red onion, large dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2″ ginger, peeled & minced
1 t ground cumin
1 t turmeric
1/2 t aleppo pepper (or 1/4 t cayenne pepper)
1/4 t kosher salt
1 large carrot, large dice
1/2 small head of cabbage, large diced
3-4 red potatoes, diced
1 c cooked french lentils or chickpeas (optional)In a large pan, heat up oil over medium heat. Add in red onion and sauté for a minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Stir everything around until fragrant and stir in the cumin, turmeric, aleppo pepper and salt. Let the spices get toasty for a minute and then add in the cabbage, carrots, and potatoes. Give everything a good stir, cover and leave on medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. It’s important to keep this dish covered, so that the vegetables braise without the help of any extra liquid. Stir in the cooked lentils or chickpeas if using, lower the heat, and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Serve with brown rice. Makes 4 servings.
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I love tumeric and this dish looks great!!
Thanks Sues!! Turmeric is one of those spices that I don’t use too often, but this is a reminder to use it more often.
Hi =)
I tried your recipe today and it turned out nicely!
I added some water though, during the cooking time, since it was continuously getting burned at the bottom of time. How did you manage that without water? In the end I fired it again for a little bit to get a roast kind of aroma, but in between I was a bit at a loss.
I would love to hear how you did that =)
Ines, did you keep the pan covered? I had the heat down at medium, but maybe your stove runs hot – keep it a bit lower? The cabbage let off enough liquid that everything cooked tender without adding extra liquid.
Thanks a lot for sharing this awesome recipe with us. I have a bunch of chickpeas and lentils sitting in the pantry waiting to go into some sort of salad. But I always like warm foods (more hearty) rather than cold food. Will give t his a try! 🙂
Thanks for your answer! 🙂
Yes, I did keep the pot covered. I used a pot, since we don’t have any non-stick-pans, maybe that was the problem.
The stove was as low as it would go, but since it is an old gas stove I’d translate very low to still middle heat on a normal stove.
Nancy, I hope you give this dish a try, we loved it!
Ines, I used a small stock pot – more wide than tall so that may have helped things along? Sorry you had problems, but give this another go with more peeking, more stirring, less heat and maybe some extra liquid just in case 🙂
Its a great simple recipe. i tried it and it was delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Cavs!
I’m going to give this a try. Looks great! I need to use turmeric more often in my cooking 🙂
Joanne, I don’t use turmeric a lot so it’s good practice, especially since it’s supposedly good for the brain!! And I need all the brain power I can muster 🙂
yummy though mine did decide to scorch in the last stage so I added some liquid to salvage. Will do this one again for a winter warming meal.