South of the Border Slaw

Sometimes you just crave a healthy portion of Latin American food.  Beans, rice, spicy salsas, chopped cilantro, onions and peppers, cumin, corn, jicama, cabbage … the whole works.  And no microwaved burrito is going to cut-it.  My favorite part about going out to eat at El Toredor back in Redmond was their slaw.  A chunky, sultry-tasting, marinated cabbage-carrot slaw. Frex. I could eat that stuff with every meal of the day. 

So, in honor of El Toredor’s Shredded Cabbage Ensalada, here is a version easy enough to make in a dorm room.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp sesame oil

1-2 tbsp rice vinegar

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp sea salt

1 small garlic glove, super minced.

***

1 VERY small cabbage head (or just half a small-medium sized head), cored and sliced into shreds

2 tbsp chopped Italian parsley

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 cup shredded carrot (I used the pre-shredded kind)

Directions:

In a large bowl “whisk” the first 5 ingredients together to start the marinade.

Chop the cabbage, cilantro and parsley** and add them to the marinade along with the shredded carrot. Take a spatula or large spoon and begin pressing the slaw against the aedges of the bowl. Continually stir and press, stir and press for about 5 minutes.  This may seem ridiculous and tedious, but eventually you will see that the volume of the salad will decrease by about 1/3 as the veggies begin to lose water through hyperosmosis (i.e. the salt and vinegar in the marinade will draw out fluid in the veg).

Stick the slaw in the fridge for at least a few hours—ideally overnight—to allow the acids in the vinegar to slowly “par-digest” the raw vegetables.   The marination process will help make the cabbage easier to digest and eliminate its infamous “stomach cramps and gas”. L  Marinate.  Save a tummy ache.

**Tip for dealing with chopped herbs.  Instead of using a knife to manually chop everything, snip off the leaves in little pieces with kitchen shears.  Much easier to clean up! And all the unused herbs can be snipped into a container to store in fridge for later.  Also pre-chopped herbs take up less space in the fridge. It’s a win-win.

I served this delectable salad with some crock-pot rice and pinto beans, broccoli sprouts, leftover chopped cilantro and salsa.  It was muy sabrosa.  Throw in an avocado and chopped green onions for an extra yum punch.

Cheers, kaite ;]