When You've Got A Little, Make A Lot

It's windy on our hill, and pouring down rain here in Sonoma. The sort of day one wants to spend in a warm and brightly lit kitchen. The sort of day one wants to do nothing but cook, and certainly not go out shopping for something to cook!
Today is a day I want many things, burfi, (since I saw it on Sanjanas' Blog last night), my 5 hour rice pudding, laddos, curried potatoes with fenugreek. Oh, all sorts of things. But what, it all comes down to, am I prepared and stocked up to cook.
I cook lunch nearly every day. It's our main meal. Dinner is an apple , a little cheese, some nuts, etc. Lunch in our house is a Big Deal. Since we're in most all of every day writing, I'm a great planner ahead. I usually know what I've got and how I'm cooking it, and when it'll go bad, so I have to cook it. When we've finished a piece of work, as we did a few days ago however, all bets are off. We've turned our project in to the powers that be, and confusion reigns. Which brings me to lunch today.
Rainy days are never my favorite shopping days. Putting on my wellies, going down the hill, navigating highway 12...not my favorite thing. No sirree. So what to cook when one does not want to do a lot of shopping, but prefers to sit in ones office playing Mafia Wars on Facebook???
Carrots with Cabbage and Coconut!! This is a dish that is so fast, and so easy and so ...basic that if I hadn't been stuck with those very ingredients I probably wouldn't have cooked it. But, I'm so glad I did.
All one needs for this is a few kitchen staples. I happen to go nuts for those little 8 oz bags of shredded cabbage that people generally use for cole slaw. It is exactly one of those that I used for this dish.

This is what I did with it.
In a deep skillet, or Kadhai heat
1.) 2 Tbs of vegetable oil
2.) when the oil is hot add in 1/2 tsp of black mustard seeds
When the seeds begin to snap, crackle and pop add in
3.) 1 small onion finely chopped
4.) 1 green serrano chili split in half
5.) 6 curry leaves
Stir fry these until the onion is translucent and soft.

Then add in
6.) 1 cup of dried grated unsweetened coconut. Stir it all up, so that the coconut begins to toast lightly.

When it's aromatic add in
7.) 1 8 oz package of shredded white cabbage and
8.) 2 peeled and grated carrots

Stir fry all of this together until the cabbage and carrots cook through. It took about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve!
The carrots and cabbage tasted spicy and buttery, though no butter was used. All that and healthy too?! It was just the punch of flavor that a rainy day lunch needed and no special trips to the market involved.
This recipe served my husband and myself as a side dish and there was plenty left over....if you're a normal person. We ate all of it. As I said, lunch is our main meal. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.