Red Cabbage Coleslaw with Caraway Seeds

Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Cabbage seems to be a quiet, unassuming vegetable. It grows very low to the ground, very unobtrusively, unlike say, cucumbers which wander all over the place like they own the garden. Cabbages are slow and steady and persistent, and despite its almost-shy nature, cabbage is known and loved — and eaten in various ways -  all over the world. According to VegParadise, which has a thorough history of  cabbage on its site,  ” the United Nations listed cabbage as one of the top twenty vegetables considered an important food source sustaining world population.”

So pushy doesn’t always pay… Cabbage is served from Ethiopia to Germany to Ireland to China, and of course the United States, where it is most frequently served  as coleslaw.

Red Cabbage is the more flamboyant of the cabbage family, with its vibrant purple color. Red and purple cabbage are the same, by the way, and there are great variations in the color of individual cabbages, depending on the pH level of the growing soil.

Most importantly, cabbage is delicious, crunchy and really good for you. Here is a red cabbage coleslaw  recipe that I adopted from a great cookbook “Good Old Food” by Irena Chalmers, but I used rice vinegar instead of cider vinegar, and also added dill and mustard. The caraway seeds are what sets this slaw apart. Green cabbage can be used instead of red.

• 1 small head of red cabbage, shredded
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 1/2 tsps. caraway seeds (optional)
• 1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or cider or any kind of vinegar)
• 2 tsp. brown spicy mustard
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (optional)

Combine all of the vegetables and dill in a large bowl. I shred the cabbage by hand with a knife because my food processor cuts it up too small. The carrots, onion and dill are tossed in the food processor and grated together.

In a smaller bowl, combine the mayo, vinegar, mustard and caraway seeds and blend well. Pour over the vegetables and combine so that everything is well-mixed and the veggies are covered. Add a dash of salt and a few grinds of pepper to taste. Cover and chill at least an hour to combine flavors. Lasts for several days in the fridge and still stays crunchy.

This slaw is great with anything BBQ. Serves 8-10.

Other Coleslaw recipes:

Classic Vinegar Coleslaw

Creamy, Crunchy, Crispy Tex-Mex Coleslaw

Creamy Red Coleslaw

Asian Coleslaw

Tags: cabbage, coleslaw, Summer, Vegetarian