Thai Sweet-Hot Coleslaw

So, in the process of moving, the entire contents of my fridge were dumped in a big box and trucked to the new place... It's been an adventure sorting out my veggies! My Mom, who kindly (and THANKFULLY!!) helping pack up my kitchen remarked that I had a "lot of cabbage to use up"...

Well, yes, thank-you, I know that, but cabbage keeps forever in my vegetable bin; and sometimes I forget I have it, and am lured by the pretty colors at the Farmer's Market and buy even MORE cabbage, which I then forget to use, and so it goes. Anyway, I had four heads of cabbage waiting for me this morning!

So today, the day AFTER the 4th, I'm using up a bunch of that cabbage and making one of my favorite picnic salads. Sweet-Hot Thai Coleslaw.


I love the bright colors as you assemble this salad, the purple cabbage and orange carrots especially, are such a pretty contrast!

Thai Sweet-Hot Cole-Slaw

• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/3 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice (from 3 to 4 limes - oh please use fresh! I have issues with that bottled stuff!)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, grated (less if you're not crazy about ginger)
• 1 or 2 jalapeno chiles, minced or to taste, as hot or mild as you like!

• 1 head cabbage, cored and very thinly sliced or coarsely shredded (I use 1/2 red and 1/2 green)
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 small red onion, very thinly sliced or 4 green onions (scallions) sliced thin as far up into the green part as possible
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

Dressing: Pour the soy sauce, sesame oil, oil and lime juice into a small bowl, add the sugar and stir until it is dissolved. Add the garlic, ginger and jalapenos. (You can use a food processor at this point if you want, I prefer all the "chunks" be whizzed up!)
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

1/2 hour or so before serving, put the cabbage, carrots and red onion into a large bowl and mix together. Pour the dressing over, toss again, cover and refrigerate.

To serve, toss the cabbage mixture in the dressing and put on serving platter. Add half the cilantro, toss with tongs and scatter the remaining cilantro on top.

SO refreshing!! I could eat this stuff for days on end, but it never lasts that long! It gets a little "wilted" and juicy the second or third day, but it is still really good!

Oh, and it's GREAT in a taco shell with crispy tempeh too!