Asian Coleslaw

Another hot-weather dish you don’t need to heat up your kitchen to make!  Although finally this week the weather has broke in this burgh.

Typically, this will be a side.

You will usually find shredded carrot in recipes for Asian coleslaw, but I don’t care much for raw carrot, so I used daikon.

What I adore about Asian coleslaw, even if someone adds in the carrot, is the fact that it has no mayonnaise.  Mind you, I don’t mind mayonnaise — but slaw simply is elevated to the next level if the mayo is minimal or non-existent!  Or maybe I’ve just been to too many fast food establishments in my childhood where sides with the hot dog were that thimbleful of bland mayo-choked coleslaw that usually tasted somewhat off, and were usually just tossed or simply ignored.

Prep Time:  Will vary with knife skills, but say 15 minutes.
Cook Time:  No Heat Involved!
Rest Time:  Let the salad and the dressing meld for a few hours up to one day without the salad losing crispiness… Also seriously improves flavor and enjoyment!
Serves:  About 4 as a side.
Leftovers?:  Why not, say up to three days or so. 
Cuisine:  Asian.

The Salad Basics

• 1 cup shredded red cabbage
• 2 cups shredded green cabbage
• 1/4 cup  shredded daikon radish, removing the peel (you can certainly use carrot instead, likewise removing the peel).  Or, make it a mix.
• The green parts of two scallions/green onions, chopped. 

 

• Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
• Optional bed of lettuce:  Romaine, iceberg, Boston, butter…
• Optional tomato slices from a fresh and flavorful tomato
• Optional cucumber sliced into thin disks.
• Optional flakes of cilantro (coriander leaf)

The Dressing

• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds, toasted or not
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1.5 tablespoons avocado or grapeseed oil
• 1.25 teaspoons tamari, gluten free soy sauce, or coconut aminos
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon coconut palm sugar

To Prepare:

In a bowl, add the cabbages, daikon (carrot?), scallions, and salt and pepper.  Mix.

In a smaller bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients together, taste and adjust to your personal taste buds.   Coconut aminos (which will make the dish Paleo) are a bit sweeter than tamari or soy sauce.  Make sure the sugar dissolves.

When ready to serve, add dressing and toss.  You can serve now, or refrigerate a few hours until desired, allowing flavors to meld with the dressing a bit.

Plate servings over the optional lettuce, and use the tomato and/or cuke as décor around the outside, or atop of each serving.  You may also dust the tomato with a hint of additional salt.

Serve!  You can save the extra coleslaw undressed and without the optional sides for a few days, any extra dressing can be saved for a week or so, and if the dressing and the coleslaw mixed together is to be saved, that is good for two-three days.  I’m wishing I still had cilantro!

A day after, with farm-stand fresh tomato slice.

Hint:  for raw tomato that needs to stand on its own, I like to put the tomato in the fridge for about an hour prior to use.  Normally, they stand outside on the countertop until use, as they will lose flavor in the fridge.  BUT:  an extra chill to them is nice and an hour or two in the fridge will not make them lose flavor appreciatively.  

 

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Continuing on with some music for a couple of reasons.    

One, you can decide to accept the 3-Day Lyrical Challenge, mentioned to me by Irene (of My Slice of Mexico) in her response to my last blog post.  So, although I won’t post something for each day, I’ll post a YouTube video for this post and my next two posts, as part of my contribution to this.  I’m not going to nominate others:  Nominate yourselves if you want to participate!

Second, Aretha Franklin:

Rest in Peace.  She had a long and full life, and she will be missed.

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Enjoy the fun times at Fiesta Friday, the foodie linky, with your co-hosts Mollie @ The Frugal Hausfrau and Mikaela @ Iris and Honey