A Kerala lunch or Onam Sadya is not complete without a thoran and of all possible thoran, cabbage thoran is King. Well, in my opinion anyway. In its simplicity likes the beauty of a good thoran and cabbage thoran is the most hands-off dish you might make.
Ingredients in Thoran
- Vegetables: thoran can be made with a wide variety of vegetables and cabbage is easily one of the most popular. The vegetables are often finely chopped to make thoran and cabbage is no exception. This is the most time-consuming part of preparing thoran and I find using a food processor or chopper really helps to speed this step along. If chopping manually, ensure you cut the cabbage into long strops and then finely dice it into as tiny pieces as you can
- Coconut: coconut is an important ingredient and one that cannot be skipped. Use fresh or frozen coconut for best flavour. In a pinch, dried or desiccated coconut can work but it's not going to taste very 'authentic'
- Chillies: thoran can use a variety of chillies to add heat and my favourite to use in cabbage thoran is fresh green chillies. You can use any kind you have in hand, just check and adjust to the heat you prefer. Dried red chillies or chilli powder can also be used for a different yet fantastic flavour
- Cumin seeds: are the main spice used in thoran for flavour so it's an integral ingredient too. Buy and use raw cumin seeds, not roasted or ground. This adds a nice earthiness to thoran.
- Turmeric powder, curry leaves, mustard seeds: The miscellanous ingredients that all add the much-needed flavour and round up your thoran. Easily available in all Indian pantries and items you must stock up on if you plan to cook Indian food fairly regularly
- Oil: you can use any oil you prefer although strong flavoured ones like olive oil are best avoided. I only use coconut oil to make thoran because that is what truly elevates this dish so if you are not opposed to its use, time to pull out your jar of coconut oil
Tips to Make Cabbage Thoran
- Needless to say but worth mentioning anyway, the fresher your cabbage, the better!
- Chop the cabbage as fine as you can
- Use freshly grated coconut if possible or use frozen coconut, thawed
- Typically, coconut is ground with cumin seeds and chilli while preparing thoran, but for cabbage thoran, we just mix all ingredients and cook them together. However, if you prefer, use a pestle and mortar to gently smush the coconut and get the juices out before adding mixing with the rest of the ingredients
- Do not skip the cumin seeds
- The method I have listed below is the quickest way to make cabbage thoran and what we have always followed. It involves adding no or very minimal water to cook the cabbage, letting it cook in its own moisture. Since we are chopping the cabbage really fine, it cooks quite fast
Other thoran recipes you might want to try: chicken thoran, beans thoran, beetroot thoran. Cabbage thoran is also an important dish as part of Onam sadya or wedding sadya.
Cabbage Thoran Recipe
A typical Kerala dish with cabbage, coconut, and basic spices. Thoran is an important part of Onam sadya and as well as an every day dish.
Ingredients
- 3 cups finely chopped cabbage
- ½ cup grated coconut thawed, if frozen
- 1-2 green chillies minced
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ cup shallots or red onion minced
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- A few curry leaves
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- ¼ teaspoon black mustard seeds
Instructions
- Add cabbage, coconut, green chillies, shallots or onion, turmeric powder, salt, curry leaves and cumin seeds to a bowl or plate and mix well
- Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds
- When they start to pop, add the cabbage mixture to the pan, and stir well to combine with the oil
- Bring the ingredients together and create a tight 'mountain', patting it all down firmly
- Cook covered on very low heat for about 5 minutes or so.
- You shouldn't need to stir this mixture but you can 1-2 times if you are nervous about the vegetables burning
- Check to see if the cabbage is soft yet not mushy. That's how you know you are done
- Give everything one more mix, adjust salt as needed, and remove from heat
- Your cabbage thoran is ready. Easy right?
Notes
- You can use red chilli powder in place of green chillies in cabbage thoran
- You can mix 2-2 vegetables together to make thoran - eg, beans, cabbage, carrot, spinach, etc
- Just ensure all vegetables are cut in similar size and their cooking times are taken into consideration. Carrot, for eg, will take longer to cook than cabbage
- You can saute the cabbage and cook it in the traditional way too, to make thoran. This method above is how Amma taught me to make cabbage thoran and it works because cabbage cooks very easily, especially when cut as small as we do for thoran
Step by Step Images to Prepare Cabbage Thoran
Combine all ingredients except oil and mustard seeds in a plate or bowl. Mix well together.
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
When they start to pop, add the cabbage mixture to it. Form a tight 'mountain' with the cabbage mixture and pat it down firmly.
Cook covered for about 5 minutes or so on very low heat. Check to ensure the cabbage is cooked and soft.
Give everything one more mix and add salt as needed. Remove from heat and serve hot with rice and Kerala sambar.
Meenu
Perfect cabbage thoran recipe for Onam and Vishu. Thank you for sharing!
Nav
Glad I found this site. Cabbage thoran turned out good.
Looking forward to more Kerala recipes.
Swati
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe!! My mother is from Kerala and she was delighted when I made this for her! It tasted so good, we all enjoyed it. Also we make this recipe very often as it really simple and tasty! Thanks once again!!
nags
i am so glad to hear that!
Byju
It was my first attempt and came out delicious, Everybody at home like it especially my sweet heart who is very good chef.
nags
i am so glad!