| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 red onion, peeled and halved
- Scant 1 tablespoon kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 red apples
- 1 head red cabbage
- 3 tablespoons packed soft dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice
- 3 cups pomegranate juice
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan (with a lid) or a cast-iron or enamelled Dutch oven. Finely slice each halved onion into thin half-moons and add to the pan along with the salt. Fry for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to soften but doesn’t burn; the salt will help to prevent it from burning.
- While this is going on, quarter the apples (no need to peel), cut away the cores and chop them roughly, and add them to the softening onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 5 minutes.
- Finely shred the cabbage and add it to the onion-apple mixture in the pan, stirring slowly and patiently to mix. Add the brown sugar and allspice and stir, then pour the pomegranate juice into the pan.
- Let the mixture come to a bubble, then give another stir, turn down the heat, put on a lid and cook very gently at the lowest possible heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. It really won’t get overcooked. Taste for seasoning only when you’re ready to reheat, as the flavours won’t have mellowed and come together properly until then.
- To reheat, put the pan back on the stove over a medium to low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 10 servings |
| Calories | 132 |
| Total Fat | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 26 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Sugar | 21 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg |
| Sodium | 498 mg |
Reviews
I love this recipe. I make it at least once a year (as written, other than I cut back on the sugar) and freeze it in small portions for just the two of us. It thaws and reheats in the microwave really well. So nice to be able to have a long-simmered dish on the table in minutes.
Excellent use of healthy vegetable!! The addition of apple is an important part and I will try with a pear instead also. This will be a standard in my home in the future. I miss seeing Nigella because her recipes are unique and frequently introduce new ways to use familiar foods.
Absolutely love this! Looked for an excuse to make it this year and luckily my neighbor invited me over for Holiday Dinner. Since we both have been following the quarantine very seriously, we had Thanksgiving here and Christmas will be there right next door. Great excuse for me to surprise them with this amazing dish. Also great that I am bringing to them since I cat stop eating it if it is at my home :-). Easy to make and such a wonderful sweet and sour taste. And the allspice takes it to another amazing level.
The flavors in this cabbage dish are amazing. Grandma’s 4th gen recipe will have to bow down (sorry grandma!). Well worth the multi hr. simmer as the flavor depth develops. I was a little worried about the pits on the Pom seeds but they seemed to immediately soften and were hardly noticeable while eating. The sauce/juice is out of this world. Like a good wine! Can’t wait to serve this at our next gathering.
I just made Nigella’s braised cabbage. I found it to be quite delicious, aromatic, and a fine accompaniment for a holiday menu. I think it’s important to choose an organic or no-sugar-added pomegranate juice; it’s not specified in the recipe, but Nigella called this out in the related video. Try it, it’s forgiving and foolproof…really good.
Not a fan. I was intrigued by the recipe and decided to give it a try. A deal-breaker, which I didn’t notice until I was into preparation, is that it takes 2 – 3 hours to simmer! So, don’t start this if you plan to serve within an hour or less 😀 I also found the end result “too sweet”. When I prepare something that’s featuring a vegetable like purple cabbage, I’m expecting it to have a savory-vegetable flavor. However, the pomegranate juice simply over-powers the dish, and it comes off excessively fruity and sweet. I didn’t find the crunchiness of the pomegranate seed garnish very appealing, too.