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Cabbage Chana Dal Porial

January 5, 2020 by Senthil Sadasivam Recipe rating:
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When it comes to cooking cabbage at my kitchen, most of the times, it will be a very simple recipe my wife likes: season some mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves and cook the cabbage and top it off with freshly grated coconut. I sure like this recipe, but I want variety all the time! So sometimes I cook the fancier versions like the cabbage dal porial or kootu. Speaking about cabbage, my dad makes awesome cabbage sambar (big square pieces of cabbage) and he adds them towards the end so that the cabbage does not get overcooked. My dad is an awesome cook, more of his recipes in later blogs…

In today’s blog, I will share the recipe for a tasty Cabbage Chana Dal Porial that is very easy to make. This is a dry side dish, but you can easily tweak this into a kootu (gravy), tips under Notes section. Both versions go well with any rice dish or chapathi.

Cabbage Chana Dal Porial
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Cabbage Chana Dal Porial

A tasty side dish made with cabbage, soaked chana dal, fresh coconut and spices that goes well as a side with rice or chapathi.

Course Side Dish
Cuisine Indian
Keyword Cabbage, Chana Dal, Porial
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Cabbage chopped
  • 1/2 cup Chana dal soaked 2 hrs
  • 1 tsp Mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp Urad dal
  • 1 Red chili
  • 1 sprig Curry leaves
  • 1/2 cup Onion chopped
  • 1 Green chili chopped
  • 1/4 cup Tomato (optional) chopped
  • 1 tsp Chili powder
  • 1 tsp Coriander powder
  • 1 tsp Turmeric powder
  • 1/4 cup Coconut paste or grated
  • 1/4 cup Coriander leaves chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp Oil

Instructions

  1. Chop cabbage into very thin strips or small tiny squares (your preference).

  2. Heat oil in a pan, do tadka with mustard seeds, urad dal, red chilies, curry leaves.

  3. Add chopped onion and fry for couple of mins till it sweats (no need to brown it). Add chopped green chilies and tomatoes and fry for few mins until the tomato is mashed well.

  4. Add soaked chana dal, 1/2 cup water, spice powders (chili, coriander, turmeric), salt and mix well and cover and cook for about 10 mins (opening and stirring in between) until the chana dal is about 90% cooked.

  5. Add chopped cabbage, mix well with cooked dal and cover and cook in low flame for about 5 mins until the cabbage is cooked. When cooking cabbage (or any vegetable), I do not like if the vegetable is overcooked and mashed so I stop the cooking process when the vegetables are just about cooked, and still retain their shape and taste (and nutrients too!).

  6. Add coconut paste (or grated coconut) and give a good stir. Check and adjust salt level if needed.

  7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional).

Recipe Notes

  • This porial dish can be easily converted into kootu!  Just add more chana dal, water and cook till the chana dal is very soft and then mash it before adding cabbage.  Alternatively, to save time, you can pressure cook the dal and add it to the dish as well. 

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