Sydney chef can recall “the holiday of the cabbage” that sums up her love of the vegetable.
She was working at at the time and had to clear out the restaurant’s cool room before Christmas. There was one unused red cabbage and one white cabbage left, so she took them on her break.
“We had all these different people come and go from the holiday,” she says. “So the game was to make something with cabbage every day.” The vegetable was so versatile – and seemingly endless.
At her current restaurant, , Carey’s has long been a favourite. She recalls that whenever diners would order it, they would rave about the dish and say, “oh my God, it's amazing, what’s in it?”
She would tell them: “Just cabbage.”
While the cruciferous veg is definitely the star of the dish, it does benefit from the spicy hit of pepper and mustard seeds, a rich coating of ghee and the char of the wok – which, according to her, is a slightly untraditional way of serving this condiment.
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Sri Lankan fried cabbage
“In Sri Lanka, both or mallungs are common. Some sambols are quite salad-y … but mostly you have a mallung [which is usually cooked really quickly, with fresh coconut and no fat],” she says.
This staple is often based on a finely shaved vegetable, but there are other variations (such as a green papaya mallung).
“Sometimes there’s Maldivian fish in it, there’s usually turmeric in it. Sometimes they're super spicy as well. Other times, they're just fresh vegetables. But that fish cuts through and it's always served at room temperature,” she adds.
Lankan Filling Station’s signature mallung was, until recently, made from cabbage. The leaves would be smoky from the wok and although they were usually hot with ghee, she’d also serve a vegan alternative cooked in coconut oil. “And that was also delicious.”
The chef recently took this dish off the permanent menu, but it will return as a special every now and then.
“There will always be a mallung on [at the restaurant]. It's just not always going to be the cabbage one. It just means we can be more seasonal with our greens, because there was a moment there when cabbage was so expensive.” In fact, there was pricing the usually budget-friendly vegetable for a massive $13 – for a half serve.
“I came into work and someone told me how much a head of cabbage was and I was like, ‘we have to double the price of that dish!’”
Eagle-eyed diners can keep referring to Lankan Filling Station’s specials menu to see when the cabbage mallung is back. Or, to make it at home, try our , or consult the pages of Carey’s cookbook.
O Tama suggests serving it with a curry or char-grilled piece of fish. Perhaps the versatile vegetable could become your go-to ingredient for holidays too, just as it did for the chef?
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