Cabbage Poriyal – a popular south Indian style stir fry made with shredded cabbage tossed with coconut and a few basic spices. This vegan and gluten-free cabbage sabzi makes a great accompaniment with chapati and goes well as a side dish with rice.
This delicious and easy cabbage recipe gets ready in less than 15 minutes in Instant Pot and makes a good option for a fuss-free mid-week dinner.
This cabbage poriyal recipe, also called muttaikose poriyal is a simple yet delicious dish to make in an instant pot, as it is a stress-free method, so you don’t need to stand around and stir cabbage every once in a while.
I’ve used the “zero” minutes pressure cook technique to make this delicious cabbage subzi. Set the pot to pressure cook mode (manual mode) for zero minutes and then let the pressure release naturally. The cabbage will be cooked while the IP is coming up to pressure and continue to cook while pressure is released naturally.
Notes on Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make this classic cabbage poriyal recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card to find the ingredient quantities and recipe instructions.
Spices and Lentils: Mustard seeds, urad dal, turmeric powder and salt.
Vegetables: Cabbage, curry leaves, green chillies, coriander leaves, ginger and desiccated coconut. I’ve used desiccated coconut, feel free to use frozen or freshly grated coconut. Fresh curry leaves are available in Indian grocers and online stores. You can get dried curry leaves from Amazon.
Liquids: Oil and water. I used olive oil, but you can replace it with any cooking oil that you use regularly in your kitchen.
How to make cabbage poriyal?
(This is an overview with process photos, the full recipe is at the bottom in a recipe card)
Step 1: Turn SAUTE mode ON and add oil to the inner pot.
Step 2: Once the oil is hot, add mustard and let it splutter.
Step 3: Add urad dal and stir for few seconds until it starts to turn brown.
Step 4: Now add green chillies followed by curry leaves, ginger. Saute for a few seconds.
Step 5: Add turmeric, salt, stir well.
Step 6: CANCEL the SAUTE mode.
Step 7: Add cabbage, water and mix well. Scrape the bottom of the pot well to prevent BURN message.
Step 8: Secure pot with lid, turn the knob to SEALING position.
Step 9: Turn PRESSURE COOK mode ON, Set timer to 0 MINUTES at HIGH PRESSURE.
Step 10: Once done, wait until pressure releases naturally (NPR). It takes around 12-15 minutes. Once the pin goes down, take the lid off the pot.
Step 11: Add coriander, coconut and stir well.
Serve cabbage poriyal with chapati or rice.
Check out other south Indian side dishes – elephant yam fry, carrot cabbage peas poriyal and carrot beans poriyal on the blog.
Substitutions and Variations
A dash of lime juice at the end adds a zing and enhances the flavour.
To make Karnataka-style cabbage palya, cook a handful of soaked chana dal and chopped onion before you add cabbage.
To make Kerala style cabbage thoran, coarsely blend coconut, cumin, garlic, shallots/onion and combine with cabbage before you put the lid on to pressure cook.
Coconut: You can swap fresh coconut with desiccated or frozen coconut. Thaw frozen coconut as per instructions on the packet and then use it.
Notes
Burn message: To prevent BURN message, ensure to scrape the bottom of the pot well before you turn Pressure Cook mode ON.
Total cooking time: Cook time mentioned here doesn’t include the time IP takes to release pressure naturally.
Pressure release: The time IP takes to release all the pressure depends on the quantity and amount of liquid in the pot.
Check out more cabbage recipes on the blog – cabbage pakoda.
Tips and Tricks
Turn the saute mode OFF before you add cabbage and water. This is to prevent spices from sticking to the bottom of the pot, which results in a BURN message.
Use cold water to ensure the pot takes a little longer to come to pressure. Cold water takes time to heat up during that time, cabbage starts to cook. Then it continues to cook in the NPR process. This ensures cabbage subzi is neither too soggy nor too raw but perfectly cooked.
Never use hot water as it shortens the time the pot takes to reach pressure and the cabbage won’t be fully cooked.
Ensure to shred/chop cabbage finely otherwise, this method won’t work!
DON’T quick release (QR) wait until the pressure release fully and let the pin go down. This allows the cabbage to continue to cook during the NPR process.
How to serve cabbage stir fry?
To fix a quick meal on busy days or mid-week, serve this stir-fried cabbage with chapatti or paratha.
This poriyal tastes equally delicious with plain rice and dal/rasam, papad and pickle such as allam pachadi.
More South Indian Recipes
Millet Dosa: Vegan, gluten-free and nutritious south Indian breakfast usually served with sambar and varieties of chutneys.
Drumstick Leaves Curry: a typical south Indian style dry curry made with few ingredients and without any oil.
Chilli Parotta: Classic spicy street-side dish from Tamil Nadu. Parotta cut into bite-sized pieces are tossed with onion, mixed peppers and spices.
Lemon Rice: Tangy, crunchy and flavourful dish that gets together in under 20 minutes and makes an ideal dish on busy weekdays or to pack for a lunchbox.
Coconut Rice: Very simple Indian rice recipe and is a beginner’s delight. This mild and flavourful Indian coconut rice recipe is a vegan and gluten free rice recipe.
Tomato Kurma: Tomato-based tangy and mildly spiced curry that goes well with south Indian breakfast dishes and paratha.
Kothu Parotta: Shredded flaky multi-layered Indian flatbread stir-fried with assorted vegetables and essential spices.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Do let me know if you make this south Indian cabbage fry. If you like this recipe kindly consider rating it using stars in the comment section or on the recipe card to help more people find this recipe online. You can stay up to date by following me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram or subscribing to my Youtube channel. Or why not subscribe to my blog and get simple recipes straight to your inbox?
Instant Pot Cabbage Poriyal
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot
- 1 Spoon
Ingredients
1 Cup = 250ml ; 1 Tablespoon = 15ml ; 1 Teaspoon = 5ml
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon urad dal
- 3 green chillies slit
- few curry leaves
- ½ inch (or) 12 gms ginger finely chopped and minced
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- salt as required
- 3 cups tightly packed (or) 360 gms cabbage washed and finely shredded
- ⅓ cup water
- handful coriander leaves chopped
- 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut
Instructions
- Turn SAUTE mode ON and add1 tablespoon oil to the inner pot.
- Once the oil is hot, add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds and let it splutter.1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- Add 1 teaspoon urad dal and stir for few seconds until it starts to turn brown.1 teaspoon urad dal
- Now add 3 green chillies followed by few curry leaves, ½ inch (or) 12 gms ginger. Saute for a few seconds.few curry leaves, 3 green chillies, ½ inch (or) 12 gms ginger
- Add ½ teaspoon turmeric powder, salt, stir well.½ teaspoon turmeric powder, salt
- CANCEL the SAUTE mode.
- Add 3 cups tightly packed (or) 360 gms cabbage, ⅓ cup water and stir well.3 cups tightly packed (or) 360 gms cabbage, ⅓ cup water
- Scrape the bottom of the pot well to prevent BURN message.
- Secure pot with lid, turn the knob to SEALING position.
- Turn PRESSURE COOK mode ON, Set timer to 0 MINUTES at HIGH PRESSURE.
- Once done, wait until pressure release NATURALLY (NPR). It takes around 12-15 minutes.
- Once the pin goes down take the lid off the pot.
- Add handful coriander leaves, 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut and stir well.handful coriander leaves, 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut
Notes
Nutrition
More Instant Pot Recipes
Welcome to Flavours Treat. I share vegetarian recipes made with wholesome, mostly fresh ingredients. Every recipe has easy-to-follow instructions with process shots (detailed step-wise pictures), a short video and lots of tips to help your cooking journey. Read more
