Cabbage poriyal recipe: learn how to make cabbage poriyal, a simple vegetarian (vegan, actually) South Indian dry curry with cabbage, coconut, and spices. Poriyal can be made with a variety of vegetables and goes great with rice and curry.
I tend to make cabbage thoran more often than cabbage poriyal but the key advantage to a poriyal is that you don’t have to grind the coconut while for thoran, in my opinion, the coarse grinding of coconut with jeera and shallots and green chillies males all the difference in taste. Some weekends, we just crave a simple South Indian meal and a bowl of hot rice with mor kuzhambu and poriyal hits the right spot. Using a food processor for chopping up the cabbage makes this a very quick task and you can get the poriyal from vegetable to plate in less than 30 mins. Chopping cabbage by hand is a messy job so I avoid that if I can help it.
If you’d rather try a Kerala-style thoran, then check out this cabbage thoran recipe or this carrot beetroot thoran. I also really like this eggplant poriyal that uses roasted spices and is amazingly flavourful.
- 4 cups of cabbage, chopped fine
- 1 tbsp of chana dal / kadalai paruppu (soaked in warm water for 10 mins)
- 2 tsp of oil
- ½ tsp of black mustard seeds
- 10 curry leaves
- ½ tsp of cumin powder (optional)
- ½ cup of sliced shallots (or onions)
- ¼ tsp of turmeric powder
- 2 green chillies, sliced (I used one red chilli and one green)
- ¼ cup of grated coconut
- Chop the cabbage and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the soaked chana dal and shallots/onions. Fry until the onions turn soft - about 3 mins.
- Then, add the turmeric, curry leaves, red and green chillies, saute for another minute.
- Add the chopped cabbage along with the cumin powder, curry leaves, and some salt. The salt helps bring out the moisture in the cabbage and allows it to cook in its own juices.
- Mix well
- Add about 2 tbsp water and cook covered for 7-8 mins until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.
- Give it a good stir. You can also stir once in between when it's cooking in the closed pan, just to ensure even cooking. Keep flame low and it will steam up in its own water and the little you have added. If the poriyal is too moist at this stage, just let it cook down in the open pot while being stirred now and then.
- Finally add the grated coconut on top and more salt if needed. Mix well and remove from flame.
- Serve warm with rice and any curry.
Step by Step Cabbage Poriyal Recipe:
1. Chop the cabbage and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the soaked chana dal and shallots/onions. Fry until the onions turn soft – about 3 mins.
3. Then, add the turmeric, curry leaves, red and green chillies, saute for another minute.
4. Add the chopped cabbage along with the cumin powder, curry leaves, and some salt. The salt helps bring out the moisture in the cabbage and allows it to cook in its own juices.
Mix well
5. Add about 2 tbsp water and cook covered for 7-8 mins until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.
Give it a good stir. You can also stir once in between when it’s cooking in the closed pan, just to ensure even cooking. Keep flame low and it will steam up in its own water and the little you have added. If the poriyal is too moist at this stage, just let it cook down in the open pot while being stirred now and then.
6. Finally add the grated coconut on top and more salt if needed. Mix well and remove from flame.
Serve warm with rice and any curry. It goes particularly well with onion pulusu or kara kuzhambu or even the combination I used in the meal pictured, with rice and buttermilk kulambu.
Cabbage poriyal keeps well if refrigerated for up to 2 days.
For Cabbage Poriyal recipe in Tamil, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, etc, please use the Google Translate button in the sidebar.
Instead of kadalai paruppu can i use moong dal (ciru paruppu/pasi paruppu)
yes you can 🙂
Thank you for this recipe… It turned out so tasty… Loved it.. Just like its made in South India… 🙂
thank you Joylin