Cabbage Palya

Palya in Kannada is a stir fry or some dry dish. My mom used to make simple cabbage upkari or Konkani stir fry I posted a few weeks back. It is a simple dish chopped cabbage cooked in a seasoning of mustard, jeera, green chillies & curry leaves. This is good on its own, but I wanted to glorify it a bit. I kept searching on the net for different recipes and also happened to see my friend Seemas Mom-in-law making cabbage palya with kasoori methi.
This is what evolved out of a combination of recipes.

1 medium size cabbage
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera/cumin
1-2 green chillies
1 sprig curry leaves

optional, all or any of the following
2 tbsp chana dal
2 tbsp tender green peas
1 tbsp kassori methi

Soak chana dal for an hour or half, was ans drain. Finely chop cabbage and set aside. Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok and splutter mustard & jeera, fry chopped green chillies and curry leaves. Add chana dal and fry till for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and salt, mix well, Add little water and cook on medium flame. Take care not to over cook the cabbage and not to end up with any excess water. When the cabbage is almost cooked, add tender green peas and kasoori methi. Mix well and keep stirring till everything is cooked evenly and all the water is evaporated. Adjust salt.

I did not have tender green peas when I made this palya the last time. Hence its missing in the picture. You can use all or none or a combination of chana dal, peas and kasoori methi.

Serve with chapathi or rice and dal.

Note: Do not add more water when cooking cabbage. It looses texture if overcooked. You can add little quantities of water as needed.