Tag Archives: purple cabbage

Korean Coleslaw

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Often when I’m browsing online for recipes, I print one I like, save it, and keep the stack of recipes in my kitchen.

Which is silly, because I have boxes of recipes glued on cards stemming from my childhood, and even folders for saved recipes that are organized by the season and, of course, my cookbooks. I guess one can never have too many recipes.

So I was browsing through my recipe “stack,” and I saw the words “gochujang” and “coleslaw” together. What? There it was – a coleslaw, with a dressing containing Gochujang!!

I only recently discovered the Korean barbecue paste, and used it on pork tenderloin. What a wonderful flavor this paste imparts.

Turns out that the coleslaw recipe is from Abbe’s blog “This is How I Cook.” Not only does she have a great blog, she has the cutest dog, Geordie.

I made a few adjustments, mostly adding more gochujang to the coleslaw dressing.

Korean Coleslaw

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons gochujang
1-2 tablespoons Sriracha
1 tablespoon agave

4 cups shredded cabbage, purple and white
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 cup grated carrots
8 green onions, sliced
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned, chopped
Black sesame seeds, optional
Peanuts, optional

First prepare the gochujang dressing in a small blender jar and set aside.


Place the purple and white cabbages, red bell pepper, and carrots in a large bowl. Mix well.

Add the dressing and stir. Let sit for 1-2 hours to soften the cabbage slightly. Taste before continuing with the recipe.

Add the green onions and cilantro and mix together.

To serve, sprinkle the coleslaw with sesame seeds.

If I’d only used purple cabbage, I would have also used white sesame seeds.

Then add some peanuts.


If you want it spicier, add more Sriracha sauce and stir well, but you don’t want it to overpower the gochujang.

And for heaven’s sake, slice your own cabbage. Don’t buy those terrible bags of coleslaw!

It’s fresher and it’s cheaper!

This coleslaw was fantastic! It would be great with salmon or chicken on top as well. Thanks Abbe!

Polynesian Salad

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Ever since I first spotted this recipe on the blog A Beautiful Bite, I’ve been dying to make it. Melanie actually calls her salad “Crunchy Polynesian Salad.” The salad isn’t terribly sophisticated, but it sounded fun and different. I love her unique, crunchy additions – toasted ramen noodles and macadamia nuts!

I made this salad for a July 4th get-together. Because it was for a significant family-friend gathering, I made a very large salad and a voluminous amount of dressing. But I’ve pared it all back to a more normal amount for this post. Or check out Melanie’s original recipe here, which serves eight people.
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Polynesian Salad

8 ounces shredded iceberg lettuce
8 ounces broccoli slaw
8 ounces julienned carrots
8 ounces shredded purple cabbage
1 – 16 ounce can pineapple slices in juice
Coconut oil or Pam
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 small purple onion, diced
Fresh cilantro
Toasted ramen noodles
Macadamia nut pieces, toasted

Place the first four ingredients in a large bowl lined with paper towels to insure that the vegetables are dry. I don’t like excessive moisture in salads because it dilutes the dressing.
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Store the bowl in the refrigerator overnight or at least for a few hours.
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Drain the pineapple slices over a bowl and save the juice for the dressing. Dry the slices on paper towels.


Spray a griddle with coconut oil, and grill the pineapple slices until grill marks are obvious. Continue with all of the pineapple you’re using, then cut each slice into quarters.

If you need to save on time, you can cut up the red bell peppers, but I would place them in a sealable bag or bowl also lined with paper towels. I never cut up onions ahead of time.

Toast the macadamia nuts in a large skillet, and let them cool completely.


There’s some preparation to this salad, but trust me, it’s all worth it!

Polynesian Dressing

1/2 cup pineapple juice
Juice of 2 limes
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
4 teaspoons sesame seed oil
1″ piece ginger, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.


Then add an equal amount of olive oil or peanut oil.

On the day you are serving the salad, bring all of the different salad elements to room temperature, including the dressing.

Remove the paper towels, and toss the salad ingredients with the pineapple and red bell pepper.
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Chop the onion and add it to the salad along with the cilantro. Right before serving, add the dressing and toss well.

If you’re serving the salad buffet style, mix in the ramen noodles and nuts at the very last minute so they stay crunchy. This is what I used because I couldn’t find ramen noodles. You might be shocked but I’ve never bought them before.
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This salad is truly a fabulous summer salad, and great for entertaining.
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You can change up the ingredients of the main salad. It can be all cabbage, or more lettuces, whatever you like.
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If you can’t find macadamia nuts, you could use peanuts or almonds, toasted, of course.


It would also be a really good salad with grilled chicken or salmon!!!
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note: I would have used a fresh pineapple if I could have found one. But the pineapple that’s canned with juice and not heavy syrup worked out well.

Lingonberry Vinaigrette

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The other day while I was on hold with American Airlines, I spent the hours perusing recipes at Epicurious.com. I love the site, and its recipe search engine is very smart. You can search for a specific ingredient, for only dessert recipes, holiday dishes, and so forth.

I was just searching randomly, to pass the time, but then I came across this recipe: Red Cabbage Salad with Green Apple, Lingonberry Preserves, and Toasted Walnuts. The salad wasn’t too different than ones I’ve made; I’ve even blogged about a couple that are very similar, because I happen to love hearty, crunchy salads. It was the dressing, made with lingonberry preserves, that really caught my attention.

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So that idea stayed in my head, and when I was at Whole Foods last week I found them! Swedish Lingonberries! I couldn’t wait to play with them and make a vinaigrette.

From the list of ingredients, lingonberries, sugar, and pectin, I expected the lingonberries to be very jam-like. In fact, they weren’t very sweet at all, and didn’t have a jam-like texture to them either. So I got creative, and here’s what I did.

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Lingonberry Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons beet juice, from canned beets
4 tablespoons lingonberries
1/2 teaspoon sugar

To begin, I added all of the above ingredients to a blender jar, because that’s second nature to me. Then it dawned on me. With beautiful, whole lingonberries in the dressing, it would be much prettier with the ingredients left as is, instead of blending them all together.


So I simply shook the ingredients in the blender jar, and poured the vinaigrette into a serving bowl.

My salad was simple – Romaine lettuce, purple cabbage, carrots, grilled chicken, beets, and a few pine nuts.
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I also decided to decorate the salad with a few extra lingonberries, so I rinsed some of the “jam” gently with warm water to separate the individual lingonberries.
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Just now as I’m writing this post, I looked back at the recipe that inspired me, and I wish I’d included apple in my salad. With the lingonberries not being as sweet as I expected, a fruit would have been a delicious addition.

But in any case, this vinaigrette is wonderful. Only slightly sweet, and slightly tart at the same time.
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note: If you don’t love beets, omit the beet juice. I added it, again, because I wanted to offset the sweetness from the berries, but it wasn’t necessary.

Braised Cabbage with Chestnuts

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Most people who know me would be surprised to know that I have never cooked with chestnuts, or even had roasted chestnuts sold to me by a street vendor during the holidays. You know, like the song.

Chestnuts have always seemed a little strange to me, even though they grow on trees just like the more familiar nuts. Maybe because I grew up hearing horror stories about my French grandmother practically blowing up her house when she roasted chestnuts in her old-fashioned oven. But then, my grandmother was always a bit funny in a way, and probably shouldn’t have been allowed into the kitchen. She was missing parts of a few fingers, in fact, because of kitchen accidents.

Now I have used chestnut cream, thanks to discovering it in Nigella Lawson recipes. And it is fabulous. In fact, if you have never tried it, run to the store right now and get it. But that is for desserts…

Back to chestnuts – I was at a Williams-Sonoma store last week, and decided to buy a jar and play around with them. I might throw some into the Thanksgiving stuffing I make this year, but for now, I thought I’d add them to a simple braised cabbage, just to spiff up the dish.

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The recipes I’ve always come across for braised cabbage are always too sweet, thanks to additions of sugar and sometimes jelly as well. I’ve toned the sweetness down significantly, because I find cabbage inherently sweet as it is. It’s sort like me refusing to put marshmallows on sweet potatoes.
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So here’s what I did.

Braised Purple Cabbage with Chestnuts

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium-sized purple cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 large purple onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons jelly, I used plum
10 or so whole, peeled, and steamed chestnuts, sliced
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Heat the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until it browns.
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Add the cabbage and onion and sauté it for about 5 minutes in the butter, stirring it around occasionally.
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Then add the salt and wine. Give the mixture a stir, then put on the lid and braise the cabbage for about 15 minutes. I stirred everything once again about halfway through the braising process.
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Add your choice of jelly, return the lid to the pot, and let the jelly melt into the cabbage. The jelly adds some sweetness but also flavor. This should just take a minute.
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Then give everything a good stir. If there’s some liquid at the bottom of the pot you could always raise the heat a little and reduce it, or just make sure to use a slotted spoon to serve the cabbage.

To serve, sprinkle the cabbage with the sliced chestnuts. I served the cabbage with baked chicken, and some truffle oil-roasted carrots. Divine.
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Braised cabbage is also lovely with turkey, steaks and pork chops. This really is a pretty versatile side dish.
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note: If you don’t cook with wine, a little chicken broth would also do the trick.