Spicy coleslaw

Lately I’ve been in a rut when it comes to cooking. It didn’t help that for two weeks it was too warm to consider turning the stove on (less so the oven), so we ate mostly salads. And then I had to start studying for (second chance) finals. And I was tired, and fed up, and didn’t have any imagination whatsoever to think up new exciting recipes. Or to look through my cookbooks to plan something different.

But today I felt like something different. Jan had been asking we had pitas (which translates into pita bread pockets filled with vegetarian gyros and vegetables / salad). To make it a big different, we decided to make coleslaw instead of the usual salad. And since we like to live on the edge, we made a nice spicy coleslaw. Here is the recipe so you can enjoy it too.

Spicy coleslaw

Spicy coleslaw

Ingredients:

  • 1 head white cabbage (I used pointed, but feel free to use plain ole round), approximately 860 grams
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 2 l water
  • 3 medium carrots (~175 grams)
  • 3 tbsp (45 gr) mustard
  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) red wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
  • 1 tbsp (20 gr) agave nectar
  • 2 tsp (15 gr) sambal oelek
  • freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

  1. Cut cabbage in quarters, remove core, and slice thinly into ribbons (or shred with a kitchen robot if you have one, I don’t). Put the cabbage in a big bowl, make a brine with the salt & water, and pour over cabbage, making sure cabbage is submerged. Leave cabbage to pickle for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times to make sure all cabbage gets a salt bath. Once the time has passed, drain cabbage (discard brine) and rinse under tap water.
  2. Meanwhile, peel the carrots, and grate them (using the big side of a box grater, or shred them with said kitchen robot).
  3. In a small bowl, mix mustard, vinegar, olive oil, agave, sambal oelek & freshly ground pepper until it forms a nice emulsified dressing.
  4. Mix cabbage & grated carrot in big bowl. Pour the dressing over it and toss until veggies are all covered in dressing. Cover the bowl and let rest for at least and hour before serving.
  5. Leftovers keep well in a closed container in the fridge for a few days.

Makes: 8 servings (~150 gr / serving)

Nutritional info:

Calories: 62
Protein: 2 gr
Fat: 2 gr
Carbs: 10 gr