Pointed cabbage with nam prik
Thanks to Calvin Von Niebel, our well-travelled dinner chef at Ottolenghi, for coming up with the recipe that inspired this.
6 as a side
Serving size
Ingredients
4cm piece fresh galangal (or ginger), peeled and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
1½ tsp aleppo chilli flakes
(or 1 tsp regular chilli flakes)
1 tbsp tamarind paste
¼ tbsp soft light brown sugar
50g cherry tomatoes
2 limes – 1 juiced, to get 1½ tbsp, the other cut into 6 wedges, to serve
3½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 pointed cabbages (aka sweetheart or hispi cabbage), quartered lengthways
Flaked sea salt
5g coriander, finely chopped
Method
- First make the nam prik. Put the galangal and garlic in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz. Add the fish sauce, chilli, tamarind, sugar, tomatoes and lime juice, blitz again, then tip into a small bowl and stir in a teaspoon and a half of the oil.
- Toss the cabbage quarters in the remaining oil and a teaspoon of salt, then lay them on a very hot barbecue or griddle pan, and grill for four to five minutes on each side (ie, 12-15 minutes in total), until it has clear grill marks all over, and has softened on the outside but still has a crunch. Transfer to a platter, overlapping the cabbage quarters in places. Add the coriander to the nam prik, then spoon evenly over the cabbage pieces. Serve either warm or at room temperature, with the lime wedges.