by Justin Thyme

Created on: January 13, 2009

Cabbage is one of those vegetables which I love to eat raw. I know that may at first sound a little off-putting to some but if you consider the fact that if you have ever eaten coleslaw the chances are that you too have eaten raw cabbage, you may see the practice from a somewhat different perspective. Cabbage is not only one of the principal ingredients of most coleslaw recipes, it is also the one which supplies most of the flavour. I love the crunch of cabbage and know that this is not just the tastiest way to eat it but also the most nutritious.

When cooking cabbage, therefore, I like to do so in a fashion which allows it to retain as much of that taste, crunch and nutrition as possible. That is why I love so much the cabbage, bacon and leek stir fry recipe below.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

1/2 small white cabbage

1 small leek

4 rashers of free range organic bacon

1 tbsp roughly chopped cilantro/coriander

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 tbsp sunflower or corn oil for stir frying

Method

I have prepared this recipe in the past by first chopping and stir frying the raw bacon but I believe the dish works better overall if we pre-grill it. This is the first step in making this dish. Grill it until it is only just cooked - do not grill it to the stage of being crispy. Subsequently chop it cross-wise, each rasher in to four pieces. Set it aside on a plate - we will re-heat it in the wok later.

Make two incisions in to the half cabbage in the shape of a "V" to remove the remains of the hard central core. Chop it cross-wise in to slices about half an inch in thickness. Wash the leek thoroughly then cut away the leaves and the remains of the root. The leaves of a leek are "stringy" and not especially tasty. Chop the pale stalk in to discs about half an inch wide then - very importantly - place the pieces in a colander or sieve and re-wash them thoroughly under running water. This is because grainy dirt often gets down inside the leek and we don't want it in our finished dish.

Bring your wok up to a very high heat before adding the oil to also heat up. Add the cabbage only and stir fry at the highest possible heat for around thirty seconds before adding the leek. After another thirty seconds, add the bacon, simply to heat through. Remove the wok from the heat before stirring through the chopped cilantro/coriander and seasoning.

Plate up and serve this dish on its own as a nutritious and delicious lunch recipe or even as a light evening snack.

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