Braised Napa cabbage and red lentils with roasted baby potatoes

I have been cooking red lentils for a long time but never thought of cooking them “dry” meaning, without boiling them in water. Who knew?

The other day I came across an image on the internet that looked intriguing. I followed the links to a blog called A Brown Table and found the recipe for braised cabbage and red lentils. The blogger, Nik Sharma comes from a North Indian and Goan family and offers wonderful recipes, many from his family heritage. This recipe will probably make it to my regular repertoire, it has everything I like and is very simple to make.

Napa cabbage and red lentils

The essence of the recipe is sauteing chilli pepper and red lentils that have been previously soaked in water in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, then adding the shredded cabbage and finishing the cooking covered, on medium-low heat. Nik relies on the water from the cabbage to keep the braising moist. As often happens with recipes, you need to make an adjustment or two in your own kitchen. I didn’t have Thai hot pepper so left it out and used hot pepper flakes instead, or you can substitute it with jalapeno if that’s what you have, and I did need to add a little bit of water during the braising, the cabbage didn’t release enough water for me to feel comfortable braising it without adding some water. Also, I had small potatoes and roasted them while the cabbage was cooking, and served them along with the cabbage.

I asked Nik’s permission to share the recipe here on the blog but he preferred that I link to it instead. Here is the link to the recipe for braised cabbage and lentils on A Brown Table blog.

Enjoy.

Napa cabbage and red lentils

Napa cabbage and red lentils

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