This is a long long long time coming, but I’ve been meaning to post an image for my red cabbage salad recipe that I posted previously. So here it is… finally! Enjoy!

Red Cabbage Salad

Crunchy, sour, and fresh. Those are the first three adjectives that come to mind when I think about this salad. It happens to be a family favorite… Especially with Sweet Potato (my wife not the ingredient)… And you’ve probably heard the saying, “a happy Sweet Potato is a happy family,” or something like that. A lot of people say that they like green cabbage better than red cabbage, but I’m pretty sure they haven’t tried this recipe. Red cabbage is a little stronger in flavor than green, so it needs a stronger dressing. Unlike coleslaw, one of the more common ways people consume green cabbage, this recipe gets its slight creaminess from emulsifying the oil and vinegar for the dressing.

Before I get to the recipe, I wanted to share the fact that I really enjoy veganizing old, favorite recipes… I’ll spend hours trying to adapt recipes for my vegan family… Tinkering with flavors till I get some semblance of what I remembered while modernizing it. I guess that fact actually doesn’t really apply to this recipe. As you can imagine, there aren’t a whole lot of red cabbage salads in China, but there are a lot of pickled salads and there’s even a pickled cabbage salad (green cabbage), so me having fond memories of this red cabbage salad isn’t a huge stretch. Now, in terms of veganizing this recipe… there’s no need to veganize this salad recipe (unless your family’s secret ingredient was lard), but I did adapt this recipe to make it a little healthier (another favorite thing I do with recipes). Many of the recipes I’ve seen for this salad use twice as much oil (or more), and that’s just not necessary. Emulsifying also helps cut that amount down because it increases the volume of the dressing.

One final comment. Red cabbage isn’t really red. It’s a lot more purple than red, but as Sweet Potato pointed out, it’s closer to red than green cabbage is. I have to agree with that.

Red Cabbage Salad
Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1-2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt (or a flavored spice mix… I use a shish kabob seasoning that Seitan and the Conscious Eater gave us)
• 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• About 1/8 of a fresh onion or 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 medium clove garlic grated
• 1 head red cabbage, cored and shredded

Directions:
• If using fresh onion (my preference), place all ingredients except for the cabbage into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. This helps create a creamier, emulsified dressing. The dressing will be kind of orange/pinkish, but dont worry… The cabbage makes it redder. If you don’t have fresh onion, or prefer onion powder, you can mix the canola oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, seasoned salt, pepper, and onion powder in a bowl. Mix it well.
• Place the shredded cabbage in a large ceramic or glass bowl.
• Pour dressing over cabbage, and toss to coat.
• Cover, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight, stirring occasionally. Drain before serving.

Variations:
• Like things a little more garlicky? Add more cloves of minced garlic to the dressing before blending. It’ll give the salad a more pronounced garlicky kick.
• Speaking of kick… Adding a 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper will give it a spicy kick. You can also use your favorite chili pepper sauce instead.
• Finally, this isn’t a variation… It’s a tip. If you have a leak-proof container (like the newer Oxo brand containers), then you can save tossing time by putting the shredded cabbage with the prepared dressing in the container, closing the lid, and shaking for all your worth. It’s pretty good exercise too. A Ziploc type bag would work as well, but it also increases your carbon footprint.

(Author’s note: Okay, so I didn’t get back to writing once per month yet, but I’m working on it. I also wanted to thank my Fullerton friends. I’m glad you like the recipes… it’s motivating me to write more! Finally, a photo to follow soon… I promise!)