Curried Cabbage Rice – Quick, Easy, Frugal

A Greek style risotto, with cabbage and a touch of curry powder to give it an exotic flair. A great meatless weeknight meal that’s inexpensive and very easy to make (no endless stirring involved).

On a Greek menu, when you see something ending in –oryzo, it means it’s a dish usually comprising of a vegetable braised with rice, or in some cases legumes with rice. The most popular is probably spanakoryzo (spinach rice), but there are also, among others, the lovely prasoryzo (leek rice), ntomatoryzo (tomato rice), and of course our lahanoryzo (cabbage rice). Legume dishes are usually fakoryzo (lentil rice), fasouloryzo (bean rice) and revithoryzo (chickpea rice).

Greek lesson over. Back to our cabbage rice. I made this after our neighbour shared a huge cabbage that his grocer gave him as a gift. I don’t often buy it myself, as it’s only me who eats it and it’s hard for one person to get through a whole head of cabbage on their own. So when the doorbell rang and I was presented with this lovely, fresh, organic beauty, I immediately started thinking of ways to use it. I love lahanoryzo so it seemed a good option, and after a bit of a brainwave I decided to add a touch of curry powder to see what happens. As it turns out, it was a good idea.

There are a billion versions of Greek cabbage rice out there, all of them really tasty. This one has few main ingredients, but the addition of the spices makes it really flavoursome. It’s best enjoyed with some grated parmesan, although next time I might try it with feta too!