It had to happen sooner or later; cabbage has officially entered the zeitgeist. Remember when cauliflower was suddenly a thing? Then Brussel’s sprouts? No? Well they were and now it’s cabbage’s turn to have a little moment. Cabbage is suddenly all the rage and appearing in totally new guises; roasted, grilled, marinated, you name it. Some chefs are even claiming it’s ‘the new steak’. (No it bloody isn’t. We wonder what kind of steak these chefs have been eating). But we do agree it’s a pretty remarkable veg and one that’s copped it over the years with a reputation for being dreary. Sweet, crunchy and juicy, it totally deserves some love and, with a whole cabbage stretching such a long way, a few will surely feed us through this current cabbage craze and out the other side. 

Even outlets like the NY Times agree with us about its overall deliciousness, declaring cabbage suddenly ‘The Coolest Menu Item’. ‘Cabbage is becoming the next hipster food trend’ said England’s The Sun. Last November, Pinterest searches for cabbage recipes surged 50%, while over on TikTok, all the eager-beaver influencers are trying desperately to out-cabbage each other. They’re pickling it, dashi-brothing it, green-goddessing it, Southern-frying it and parmesan-crusting it. Natch, they’ve resurrected The Cabbage Diet, but we are not going there. Where we are going is straight to this fab little cabbage cake-style of fried fritter-y thing, which is stupidly easy to make and OMG delish with lashings of sour cream and of smoked salmon. In fact, with smoked salmon it’s  completely amazing, but tell us what isn’t amazing when smoked salmon is involved! We spiked the fritter with a few caraway seeds because why the heck not, but leave these out if they’re really not ya thing. We were vibing with Russian-style flavours (dill… smoked fish… sour cream… cabbage…) but look. Use parsley instead of the dill, and do top everything off with some herbed-up sour cream. Serve your cabbage fritter/cake hot, warm or at room temperature, and feel free to double the recipe as it’s very scaleable. If you do double it, use 5 eggs and don’t worry about separate yolks.

SERVES 2

250g finely shredded savoy cabbage (about 3 reasonably-packed cups)

2 large eggs, beaten well

1 egg yolk

50g (⅓ cup) plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

1½ tsp caraway seeds (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

200g sliced, cold-smoked salmon

dill fronds and chopped chives, to serve

Herby sour cream

125g (½ cup) sour cream

1 tbsp Dijon mustard, or to taste (optional)

Small handful dill, chopped

Small handful chives, chopped

For the herby sour cream, combine all the ingredients in a bowl, season well with salt and pepper, then refrigerate until ready to use. 

Combine the cabbage, eggs and yolk in a bowl, then mix to coat the cabbage. Add the flour, baking powder and caraway seeds, if you’re using them, then mix well; you might need to get in there with clean hands for this. Season well with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a small heavy-based frypan over medium heat. Add the cabbage mixture, then use a spatula to press it evenly in the pan. Weight the surface with a lid or something similar, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 7-8 minutes or until the base is deep golden. Flip over, then cook for another 7 minutes (no need to weight it this time), or until golden all over and cooked though. Serve topped with smoked salmon slices, dollops of the sour cream and smatterings of fresh herbs.

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