Winter Vegetables Lend Themselves to an Ethnic Approach

Potatoes, turnips, carrots, cabbage—these are all colder weather crops that we have in abundance this month. As it happened, I had dinner at a great Ethiopian restaurant that opened up on the outskirts of Price Hill a few months ago (Habesha on Crookshank, give it a try!) and eating there reminded me of just how much I really love Ethiopian food.

One of the dishes I had there was a concoction of cabbage and potatoes, and I went looking for a recipe when I found we had more cabbage and potatoes in the share this week. The recipe I found included carrots as well, and since I had quite a lot of turnips (and both my daughter and my mother-in-law declined to take any off my hands), I decided to adapt the recipe, as I am wont to do, to include a little more of what I had on hand.

This is a simple dish to prepare; it involves some peeling and chopping, but other than that it is fairly hands-off. It does take nearly an hour to cook, but the results are well worth it!

Ethiopian Cabbage Dish
¼ cup olive oil
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
½ head cabbage, shredded (you can use Chinese or regular cabbage)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾” chunks
3 medium turnips, peeled and cut into ¾” chunks
1 tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. ground turmeric
½ tsp. ground cumin
½ tsp. ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, then add the sliced carrots and onions and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and spices and add the cabbage; cook for another 15 to 20 minutes until the cabbage is beginning to soften. Stir occasionally, turning the cabbage with a spatula. Add the potato and turnip chunks, reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook for about 20 to 25 more minutes, until the potatoes and turnips are fork-tender. Occasionally take off the lid and stir the vegetables around with the spatula as they cook. Makes about 4 to 5 servings. It smells great and tastes even better!