A Trio of Coleslaw

Every post brings with it its own inspiration. Most often it is about a recipe coming to life. Other times, it is in celebration of a moment and sometimes, it’s about the presentation. Today, my new serving dish inspired a trio of coleslaw.

I saw this dish recently and I had to have it. It was very Top Chef-ish and in my head, I could envision “ooohs” and “ahhhs” as I was placed it in the centre of the table.

Green cabbage was first on the agenda and easily found. I’m always amazed at how inexpensive cabbage is and how much “stuff” comes from it. My new mandoline easily cut one medium-sized cabbage (3 pounds or 1.5 kg) into a fine Julienne cut producing a total of 14 cups.

I have a thing for peanut and soya sauce combined with noodles (who doesn’t right?). I figured it could work with coleslaw too and I was right. To give it a little additional texture and sourness, I paired it with a Gala apple. (Note to self, next time, chop up some peanuts for garnish)

I like heat, so when I saw some scotch bonnet peppers, I knew they’d be the focal point of the second coleslaw. But along the way, I learned something..there is heat, there is a brick-in-your-face-heat and then there is Scotch bonnet heat. A day AFTER chopping them, my fingers were still tingling from the heat. To put their intensity into perspective. Scotch bonnet peppers are about 10x-15x times hotter than a jalapeno pepper! I bought about a dozen and yes, needless to say, I will be using gloves for my next mission with them.

So once I realized how ridiculously hot they were, I had to find ways to cool down the coleslaw. So to the recipe I added honey, fresh mint and fresh corn niblets. I’ll be honest, this coleslaw is not for the faint of heart. It can certainly be toned down with a jalapeno pepper, but for those that like being a little warm under the collar, this is for you.

With my fingers and tongue looking for salvation, the third coleslaw had to be tame and cooling. Enter coconut milk. Not only was it creamy without being too mayonnaise-y (it’s a word because I say so), it had an additional silky texture that played nicely with the crunch from the cabbage, carrots and cucumber.

I hope there was at least one “oooh” and one “ahhh” somewhere in this post!

Peanut Apple Coleslaw

• 4 cups of green cabbage – shredded thinly by hand or with a mandoline
• 1 cup of gala apple – Julienne cut
• 2 tablespoon of green onion – finely chopped
• 1/3 cup of soya sauce
• 2 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of wasabi powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground pepper

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the soya sauce and peanut butter until well combined.
2. Add the brown sugar, wasabi powder, pepper and mix.
3. Add the cabbage and apple and mix well until the dressing has evenly coated it all.
4. Sprinkle the green onions on top and enjoy.

Carribean Heat Slaw

• 6 cups of green cabbage – shredded thinly by hand or with a mandoline
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1 cup of fresh corn – cut off the cob
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers – thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tablespoon of green onion – finely chopped
• 10 mint leaves – finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the orange juice, honey, lemon zest and Kosher salt.
2. Add the cabbage, corn, scotch bonnet peppers and mix until it’s all combined.
3. Sprinkle the green onion and mint and enjoy.

Soothing Coconut Slaw

• 4 cups of green cabbage – shredded thinly by hand or with a mandoline
• 1 cup of carrot – shredded
• 3/4 cup of coconut milk
• 1 cup of cucumber – thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons of Tabasco
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Kosher salt

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the coconut milk, Tabasco, pepper and Kosher salt.
2. Add the cabbage, cucumber and carrots and mix until it’s all combined and enjoy.

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Tagged as: Coconut Milk, Honey, scotch pepper