Turn down the heat with the cooling crunch of simple slaws.
Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:00 am
Summer may be only a couple of days old, but it's clearly not messing around with baby steps. Heat and humidity, please, and make it a double. Cooking seems like an invitation to heat stroke. Unless you're like our intrepid friends Owen and Matt, whose July Fourth pig-roasting adventure will go on, no matter the weather. The only temperature these guys are interested in is the one on the meat thermometer.
Those of us with appetites that wilt in these conditions have a bit more challenge. But if you use your head (of cabbage, that is), cooling crunch and great nutrition are just a few slices away. Local cabbage is going gangbusters, if the perfect green bowling balls from Brockley Farmaceuticals are any indication. And while some cole slaw or cabbage salad recipes are weighed down with creamy dressings, more spritely alternatives can lighten things up.
Both the slaw recipes below have an East-meets-West theme, combining rice vinegar and chiles for a world of flavor. The Super Simple Spicy Slaw is light as can be, offering fabulous fat-free feasting. Kalyn's Spicy Cilantro Peanut Slaw adds the healthy fats from peanuts and canola oil with a jolt of Sriracha - the brilliant red Thai chili sauce available in most groceries' Asian food sections or at any Asian markets. One recipe calls for "seasoned" rice vinegar, the other "unseasoned," but since the seasoning in rice vinegar consists of sugar and salt, you can use either vinegar for either recipe. Add sugar and salt to taste if using unseasoned vinegar for the Super Simple Spicy Slaw; leave out sugar and salt if using seasoned vinegar for the Peanut Slaw.
These slaws are great sidebars to grilled or barbecued meats, fajitas, or just about any protein source that suits you. No matter how you season or slice it, the crunch of cabbage will stand up to whatever withering weather this summer delivers!
Super Simple Spicy Slaw
1 small, ½ medium, or ¼ bowling ball-sized head of cabbage, thinly sliced
1 large carrot
6 slices pickled jalapenos, chopped
Seasoned rice vinegar to taste (I use "lite," lower in sodium and sugar than regular seasoned rice vinegar)
Chili powder to taste
Place thinly sliced cabbage into a bowl. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off thin slices of carrot into bowl. Add chopped jalapenos. Sprinkle with enough rice vinegar to coat the vegetables and leave a little extra at the bottom of the bowl (about 1/3 cup). Sprinkle with chili powder to taste. Let sit for a few minutes and serve, or cover and refrigerate. (Note: chili powder will turn the vinegar "dressing" reddish brown as flavors meld, adding an additional color component to the green and orange of cabbage and carrot.) Serves 4-6
Spicy Cilantro-Peanut Slaw
½ large head green cabbage, very finely chopped
½ cup peanuts, chopped (or more)
½ cup thinly sliced green onions
1 bunch cilantro, chopped (use at least ½ cup chopped cilantro, or more)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Dressing:
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tablespoon agave nectar, honey, sugar or Splenda
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce (or less, or leave out for a less spicy version)
¼ cup canola or peanut oil
Cut cabbage head in half and save half for another salad. Remove core from the half used, cut cabbage into very thin slices (less than ¼ inch) and turn cutting board the other direction and cut again to chop into very small pieces. Thinly slice green onions, chop cilantro and chop peanuts.
Mix together rice vinegar, sweetener of your choice, sesame oil, soy sauce and Sriracha sauce, if using. Use a whisk to mix in oil until dressing is well-combined.
In large plastic or glass bowl, gently combine chopped cabbage, sliced green onions, and chopped cilantro. Add dressing a little at a time, until salad seems as wet as you'd like it. (You may not need all the dressing.) Add chopped peanuts, and stir a few times until peanuts are mixed in. Taste salad for seasoning, and add salt and freshly ground black pepper as desired. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.
Source: kalynskitchen.blogspot.com (adapted from thekitchn.com)
Lynne Ireland lives to eat and welcomes comments and questions from others who do (or don't). Contact her at features@journalstar.com.