Next time you go to a Caribbean restaurant (take out), if they have Steamed Cabbage as a side on the menu, order it – you won’t be disappointed. In trying to find more vegetable dishes to incorporate into our diet, I completely forgot about this one. It is one of my wife’s favorite dishes and well, you know what they say – happy wife, happy life (works both ways – ahem!). I’ve been making it for years and only recently thought of blogging it. This is my version of Caribbean Steamed Cabbage.  It was supposed to be Jamaican Steamed Cabbage but I feel as soon as you change/add an ingredient, it becomes a different dish.  This has the same great taste, but with the addition of some cauliflower (but I don’t have it listed in the ingredients as my intent was to make Jamaican Steamed Cabbage which doesn’t have cauliflower in it).

The ingredients in the recipe below make enough for 4 as a main with leftovers for the next day. But don’t worry, I’ve included some suggestions for “next day” meals below. I usually make it this size or less and for the record, it is a shame to call this a recipe because there are so few steps and it comes together in 30 minutes. Just have all your prep done, a generous 10 minutes, and cook for 20 minutes, one pot, no fussing around.  

Traditional vegetables are cabbage, onion, carrots, peppers, scotch bonnet (habanero), tomato, garlic, fresh thyme, green onion, salt and pepper. I bet you could do this just with the ingredient list! It’s intuitive right! But because I want you to try it, I’m including a few instructions below. This is comforting food that really goes well with prime rib, fish, pork, chicken – well just about anything! It doesn’t have to be a Caribbean dinner (although you will find some recipes for Jamaican Chicken Curry on the website), any type of main will go with this dish. I’m adding stuff in the “suggestions” section below.

Make this tonight if you have the ingredients, feel free to substitute what you have in your fridge or wait until grocery day. Don’t leave out the scotch bonnet – just make a small slit in it, but leave it intact so the flavor, not necessarily the heat, will be left behind. It will still be delicious, but not traditional. Wear a mask, wash your hands, socialize responsibly (or just stay home please – what’s app, zoom etc), and above all, be safe! As always – enjoy!

Ingredients
½ head cabbage, sliced (thick and thin slices – 1/8” to ¼”) – wash after cutting, don’t dry
1 large carrot – cut into ½” circles, or about 8-10 smaller colorful or Frenched carrots – each sliced on the diagonal into 2 pieces
½ onion, sliced thin
Handful of cherry tomatoes or 1 large tomato diced
1 red or yellow pepper, thinly sliced ¼”
1 scotch bonnet, sliced or for milder flavor, leave the chili intact, just poke a few holes in the pepper with the tip of a knife
3 green onions, cut into 1” pieces
4-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt – to taste and ½ tsp black pepper 
Olive oil

Directions
Heat the oil in a medium sized pot and when hot, add the onion, cooking for about 1 minute
Add the garlic – stir 30 seconds
Add the carrots, peppers, scotch bonnet, thyme and black pepper – stir to coat in the onion/oil mix
Add the cabbage – stir to mix ingredients together
Cover and cook, medium heat – 15 – 20 minutes – stir occasionally
The tip of a knife inserted into the carrot should have a little give in it – but remain firm
Add the scallions – stir
Taste, season with salt and additional pepper – taste again
Serve with any type of meat, fish etc. or just rice
Leftovers keep well in the fridge and you will have enough to easily feed 4-6 with this quantity

Suggestions and or changes:
Add cauliflower (I had half a cauliflower left over, nothing for the picture though) and/or potato to this dish
Add some prepared salt fish – simply boil some salt cod pieces 2 – 3 times – changing the water after each boil, boil for about 15 minutes each time. Flake and add to this dish at the end before adding any salt
This makes an excellent base for any type of soft taco
Use as a stuffing for hand pies with short crust pastry or in puff pastry
Chop leftovers roughly and add to ground beef, lamb or turkey for a great meatloaf
Make a flavorful soup by using this as a base along with some vegetable or chicken stock
Add to some cooked penne dressed with olive oil