Can this recipe be saved?

One of our collective favorite Ethiopian dishes is tikil gomen alicha - potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, and curry. Simple enough, right? I made it very successfully once, then was never able to replicate it, despite doing exactly the same thing. I had the bright idea that the failures may have been due to not cooking long enough, so I tried it in the crockpot. I haven't tried the results yet...but it looks and smells sad. Totally unappealing. What am I doing wrong? And can I do ANYTHING with a crock full of these veggies? I have to serve something for dinner

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:One of our collective favorite Ethiopian dishes is tikil gomen alicha - potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, and curry. Simple enough, right? I made it very successfully once, then was never able to replicate it, despite doing exactly the same thing. I had the bright idea that the failures may have been due to not cooking long enough, so I tried it in the crockpot. I haven't tried the results yet...but it looks and smells sad. Totally unappealing. What am I doing wrong? And can I do ANYTHING with a crock full of these veggies? I have to serve something for dinner

Puree it into a soup? That at least helps with the looks. But as for the smell...can you define "sad?"

It just smells like cabbage and potatoes and carrots and onions. I realize that's what it IS, but the aroma of tikil gomen alicha becomes something...other. This is like something that one's budget-minded granny would make at the end of the month.

Makes me wonder if it's a seasoning issue--are you sure you're adding in everything and doing with the spices what the recipe calls for--for example, I once forgot to toast something that was supposed to be and, obviously, that made a huge difference. Barring that, I'd probably try to "save" by adding something along those lines--I'm not familiar with Ethiopian food but just veering into mexican or indian spicing would likely make this quite delicious...

Although I never ventured into this particular dish, I am almost certain it is the cabbage.
Perhaps it is added in the end.
I would google How to Get Rid of Cabbage Smell, Cabbage Smell in cooking, etc.
Let us know what you find out.

Obviously chiming in too late, but sometimes a bit of acid makes a big difference. Occasionally it helps with the mustard-gas smell, too.

As some have said the cabbage is killing it for ya. The key is getting a nice brown on the onions, then carrots, deglazing and moving on. The cabbage comes in step two with the seasonings and finished with potatoes, covered and cooked for 20 more minutes. The amount of cabbage is giving it a trash dump smell and taste. It gets a weird tang that can't be covered or masked. You may even try omitting it one time to see the difference.

*Adding an acid as one other member has said helps too. That can be anything from lemon juice to a red wine vinegar. Careful though, these are also strong and will change the dish a ton.