Chana cabbage salad with yogurt dressing - Low carb vegetarian dinner series

Chana cabbage salad with yogurt dressing - Low carb vegetarian dinner series

Posted by admin on

This one sounds like an odd combination but they hit off pretty well - something like the chemistry of the geeky Farhan Akhtar and the glamourous Deepika Padukone in the movie Karthik Calling Karthik (which I very badly want to see and end my 15 month exile from the movie-hall), though I must admit that neither the chana nor the cabbage are as glamourous as Deepika, but the end result was almost there!

I found this variety of very small chana, almost like a baby of the big brown variety (lighter in colour too) The advantage is that they cook faster, their skins are more tender and according to me they taste better in salads where they blend nicely with the other ingredients instead of sticking out.

I'm not a big fan of raw cabbage in salads, so finely shredded cabbage and chopped onions were sauteed after some tadka and mixed into the dressing along with the boiled chana. For the dressing I used hung yogurt which is simple yogurt drained of all its water to get a thick cheese like remnant. You can beat this with a few spoons of milk for a creamier taste or use it as it is. If you have no time to hang, and if your yogurt is thick enough, then go ahead use it just like that.

We had this with microwaved crispy papad strips as dinner - the papads went crunch crunch against the chew-chew of the salad and on the whole it was a wholesome fun meal. I'm focussing on high protein dinners nowadays as I want to cut out carbs at night. This is a part of that series. I will share the other stuff I make in this series.

Chana Cabbage Salad
Low carb vegetarian dinners - 1
Serves 2

1/3rd cup small chana - soaked overnight or for 4-5 hours
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium tomato, deseeded and diced

Dressing
1 cup hung yogurt
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp frankie masala or chat masala or cajun seasoning
pinch of red chilli powder

Shredded cabbage for garnish

Roasted papad or baked tortilla chips / pita chips to serve with the salad (optional)

Directions

1. Pressure cook the soaked drained chana with 1 1/2 cups water until soft - it took me three whistles and 6-7 minutes on sim. Since these chana varieties have a thick skin, they don't easily turn to a mush, so nothing to worry here. When the cooker has cooled off, drain chana and keep aside.
2. In a wok, heat 1 tsp oil. Add the asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the onions and cabbage with a pinch of salt, stir for 2 minutes on medium flame till slightly soft. Remove from the wok and cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for dressing. Whisk well. Add the boiled drained chana, the cabbage-onion mix and toss to coat evenly.
4. Garnish with shredded cabbage and serve chilled with papad or baked chips.