Cabbage with Chana dal Curry/Patta gobi chana dal saag

Bored making the same old plain curry from cabbage? Here is an alternative, add some chana dal and you get yummy & protein rich curry. Coming from a Jain family my mom never used Patta gobi  in her kitchen and I never tasted it until I got married. After marriage I slowly started to eat cabbage and made different dishes out of it like plain curry, cabbage baath, cabbage pakoda etc.

Last week when I had cabbage in my pantry I was thinking of making a different curry out of it. I searched for north Indian on google and I found that Punjabi's make cabbage chickpeas curry, instantly I thought wow great, then I can make it with chana dal too, similar to chana dal duudi (bottle gourd) or chana dal karela.

This curry was an instant hit. Everybody loved at home. Eat with roti or rice its taste awesome.

Ingredients:
Cabbage - 4 cups, finely chopped
Chana dal - ½ cup (Soak in water for 30-45 minutes)
1/2 onion chopped into small pieces (optional)
3-4 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 Green chilies, cut into slit
11/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dhaniya powder (Corainder powder)
1/4 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 dry red chilies - broken into half
Few Curry leaves
Salt to taste
3 tbsp Oil
Pinch of hing (asafotedia)
Coriander leaves chopped (optional -  for garnish)

How I Prepare
1. In a microwave safe bowl, cook chana dal with water for 4-5 minutes. Don't cook it fully the dal should not turn mushy.
2.  Heat oil in a saute pan, add hing, mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Once they start to splutter, add red chilies, green chilies and curry leaves followed by garlic. Saute for few seconds and then add onion.
3. Once onion is cooked, add cabbage. Cook it for 2-3 minutes. Then add chana dal (make sure to drain the water), red chili powder, dhaniya powder, tumeric powder and salt. Mix everything nicely.
4 . Cover it with lid and cook it for few minutes. Check occasionally and if required sprinkle some water.
5. Cook the curry until cabbage is tender and translucent.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot.

Note
If you don't have microwave or don't want to use it, alternatively you can boil the dal on stove until it is tender or cook it in pressure cook for 1-2 whistles.