Recipe: Sticky Roasted Cabbage With Mango and Harissa Sauce by Ixta Belfrage

Cabbage is one of the most versatile vegetables. You can chop it up and transform it into kimchi, turn its sheets into aromatic cabbage rolls, shred it for a crowd-pleasing salad, or char it whole and create a caramel-y centrepiece.

The humble crucifer is finally having its moment in the sun. That’s at least partly thanks to Yotam Ottolenghi, who has spearheaded a global movement towards veggie-based meals. The prolific chef has worked with countless chefs, among them Ixta Belfrage, who heroes cabbage in her first cookbook Mezcla.

In this recipe, the cook and author roasts savoy cabbage leaves and zhooshes them up with a mango and harissa sauce, which she calls the “star” of the dish. You can serve it as a punchy side to a feast, or jazz it up with fried eggs for a quick weeknight dinner.

Plus, keep the sauce up your sleeve for later. “It works well in so many contexts: try it with roast chicken, marinated tofu or grilled fish or prawns, or let it come to room temperature and use it as the base for a fish or prawn crudo dish,” writes Belfrage.

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Ixta Belfrage’s sticky roasted cabbage with mango and harissa sauce

Serves 4 as a side
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 medium savoy cabbage
1 tsp salt flakes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced into rounds (optional)
5g fresh herbs (preferably a mix of dill and coriander)
Greek-style yoghurt, to serve (optional)
Lemon wedges, to serve

Mango and harissa sauce
3 tbsp olive oil
4 large cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
1 mild red chilli, deseeded and very finely chopped
⅛ tsp fine salt
2 tbsp rose harissa
2 tsp tomato purée/paste
100g very ripe, sweet mango flesh, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C (fan) or 240°C.

Separate the cabbage leaves to get 400g of the brightest green leaves (save the rest for another recipe). Cut the leaves in half along the ribs, then cut in half again. Put them into a large bowl with the salt flakes and oil, and massage together. Transfer to a large, flat tray and spread out as much as possible – it’s fine if some leaves overlap, as they’ll shrink. Roast for 12 minutes, tossing the leaves halfway, until the edges are beginning to brown and crisp.

To make the sauce, put the oil, garlic, chilli and fine salt into a large sauté pan and place on a medium-low heat. Gently fry for 6–7 minutes, stirring often, until the garlic is very soft. You don’t want the garlic to brown, so turn the heat down if necessary. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the harissa and tomato purée/paste until combined, then stir in the mango and lemon juice.

Spoon the sauce on to a platter and top with the roasted cabbage leaves. Squeeze over some lemon juice, then top with the jalapeño and herbs. Serve warm with yoghurt on the side, if you like.

Make ahead

The mango and harissa sauce will keep in the fridge for up to three days, after which the mango might start to get a little fizzy and funky (which actually tastes quite nice).

Additional reporting by Sarah Norris.