Indian cabbage slaw

I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend! I certainly did, and am now enjoying the wintry weather from the comfort of my favorite couch, with a mug of hot buttered rum. As it is snowing busily outside, I decided to tell you about a recipe from a warmer place - India. This site has definitely been lacking in Indian recipes so far. I grew up with Indian food and love eating it, but don't cook it that often. One of my resolutions for the new year is to cook more Indian food, and learn to cook the South Indian dishes that my family makes.

This dish is one that I found in an Indian cookbook that my mom gave me - Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking. You might not think to look to a Betty Crocker book for authentic Indian food, but the recipes are by Raghavan Iyer, who is a well-known Indian chef, and everything I have tried has come out really great. The cookbook has recipes from all over India - this cabbage slaw is from the region of Gujarat. It's a different part of India than where my family is from, so it's not quite the food I grew up with, but it is a recipe that I turn to often when I have cabbage waiting in the fridge. The balance of sweet, spicy, and sour is just perfect in this slaw, and it works well with many different main dishes, Indian or not.

Indian cabbage slaw
Adapted from Betty Crocker's Indian Home Cooking
Serves 6-8

1/4 cup peanut or vegetable oil (you can substitute some sesame oil for part of this for some extra flavor)
1/4 tsp asafetida powder (omit if you don't have it)
1 cup dry-roasted unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 medium head cabbage (1 1/2 pounds) finely shredded (8 cups)
1/2 cup dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
3 fresh Thai, serrano, or cayenne chilies, chopped (remove seeds if you are sensitive to heat)
3 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
2 tbs freshly squeezed lime juice

Heat oil in a wok or deep 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add peanuts and asafetida, and cook for 30 seconds, stirring. Add all remaining ingredients except lime juice. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until cabbage is heated through and just barely wilted. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.