Heat up a frying pan to just below smoking, put two teaspoons of oil in it, and to that toss in a chili pepper, some curry leaf if you can find it, some mustard seed (a teaspoon or so) and some asafoetida (1/8 teaspoon); a bit of garlic (a clove) is optional but also works nicely, and some people like to put in a bit of turmeric for colour. When the mustard seeds start to pop, throw in the cabbage and toss to coat and soften. Near the end throw in the coconut, stir and let it cook until the cabbage has wilted somewhat.

The dish comes from the far south of India and is a really neat take on cabbage for if you're bored of coleslaw, cabbage rolls or Chinese-style preparations of it (my go-to cabbage stir-fry is from China and uses some smoked ham and black bean sauce but it's rather heavy and a bit more guilty than this stuff.)  I often serve it alongside a bean dish or simple grilled meat with some rice. Indian and Chinese cooking are two of my interests alongside Italian Thai so I thought I'd share a bit.