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[personal profile] feywood
Aaand the kick-off.

Recipe time!

Title: cabbage and mince (& mash potatoes)
Cuisine: comfort food
Skill level: easy peasy
Time: 35 minutes
Portions: 2-3


This is something my mum taught me and that's really easy, filling and relatively healthy.
You can use less or more meat depending on your tastes or different meat if you're looking for less fat. Cabbage is full of vitamin c and glutamine, and it's low calorie.

You will need:



One medium size pot, a microwave proof bowl, a spatula and a fork.
There are no pictures involving the bowl. It is for the potatoes.




Ingredients are: pork/beef mince (450g), shredded cabbage (400g), tomato concentrate (small tin/2tbs), salt, pepper, mash potato.
I will go into the mash potato later, it's 'special'. So is the bagged cabbage.




A little butter in the pot, let it melt and let it finish bubbling. You want to hear a sizzle when your meat goes in there. Don't leave it all in one lump, but break it up. That's what I use the fork for: use the tines to squish and loosen it all up. Salt and pepper to taste, but don't be shy.
When it's cooked through, add cabbage!




That is... one very full pot. But it'll cook down, so don't worry. Give it a moment so the bottom cabbage softens, then give it a good stir.


It'll take about 20 minutes for it all to cook down and for the cabbage to be done. You want it softened, but still with a little bite to it. Keep stirring every so often. If you're afraid it might burn or your stove is as unpredictable as mine is, you can put a little water in the bottom of your pot.
In the mean time, go do something more interesting:




This is what you'll end up with.



At this point, make a well in the middle of the pot and get out the tomato concentrate. You can just dump it in the middle.




Let it take the heat for a moment, almost baking it before you mix it in. You don't have to do this, you can also mix it in right away. I just do it because I find the concentrate sometimes has an unpleasant aftertaste and this gets rid of it.


Once it's mixed in, give it a few more minutes to let all the tastes melt together and...

Check if it needs more salt or pepper and you're good to go.



Enjoy! :)


About the mashed potato in powder form.
I am usually a big fan of making it all from scratch, but there are always reasons and exceptions. First, this powdered stuff is practical and it comes in 1 person portions. Two, I grew up with it, so I quite like the taste and -- related to that -- my mum always used it so powdered mash potatoes are a quintescential part of comfort food to me.
If you do decide to make your own mash, here's a quick and dirty guide: potatoes (as many as you want there to be mash, make sure they're not the firmly cooking kind). Boil. Squish. Add some cream and/or butter. Milk works as a low fat option. Very stodgy mash potatoes can be gotten by mixing in an egg yolk or two. Salt and pepper. No really, more salt and pepper. Keep tasting, don't just blindly toss some in. Little more. You can add garlic too. Nutmeg is also awesome.

About the prepackaged cabbage.
Again, I'm a big fan of buying your veg whole and doing it all yourself, but. Do you know how big a cabbage is? Yeah, me too. So since I don't own a properly working, normal sized freezer, I buy the little bags. They're enough to make two to three portions, which I can keep in the fridge without risking it spoiling. By all means, I encourage you to go to your local market (I'm lucky enough to have a weekly one nearby), grocery store or megamart and stock up.

Hope you enjoyed, do let me know what you think.

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November 2023

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