With many thanks to Peter Nuttall for this flexbile and tasty recipe.
It’s very easy to add or change things depending on what you like and what ingredients you have in – as long is the veg is crunchy and the dressing has well balanced flavours. For example: you could exclude pomegranate, use white cabbage, red onion, substitute honey instead of demerara sugar. Apple vinegar is delicious or red wine vinegar is great but any type of vinegar or even lemon juice could work – experiment on the themes of sweet, sour and crunchy – just try avoid resorting to drowning it in boring mayonnaise!
This is a quick way to eat a lot of tasty crunchy veg without any cooking. The two keys to success are: cutting the ingredients into similar size strips to get a nice consistency and getting the balance of flavours in the vinaigrette dressing right for you.
Ingredients
1 red/white cabbage
3 sticks of celery (could also have grated carrot, sliced red onion or apple)
1 pomegranate
1 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tsp demerara sugar (or honey)
4 tbsp vinegar (preferably red wine or apple but white wine or cider works too)
1/2 tsp salt
Black pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
Method
Remove the tatty outer leaves of the red cabbage. Cut into quarters length ways with a large knife Carefully remove the cone shaped white core from the base with a small knife.
Finely slice (about 3 mm) to make strands of cabbage leaf that are about finger length – try not to cut the veg too small nor too long – imagine what would look appetising on a fork.
Put the sliced cabbage in a large bowl and break up the slices into strands. Slice up the celery or other crunchy veg – like carrots, red onions or even an apple – into similar thin strips and mix in the bowl with a ground sprinkle of salt.
Peel the pomegranate if you’re using one and put all the seeds in the bowl with the cabbage.
In a small bowl, mix the mustard, vinegar, sugar and a twist of black pepper until blended. Taste it and see if any tweaks are needed – it should be a good balance of sour, sweet and salty but the exact mix is up to you.
Drizzle the mixture over vegetables and mix gently – you want to keep everything as crunchy as possible. Sprinkle seeds and pomegranate on top and serve.
