As life today is very much “on the go”, it is a necessity to be able to produce easy and interesting dishes that do not need a lot of preparation time. Making a coleslaw recipe that is delicious and quick to make, with a special tang to it when eaten, is always a palatable delight. Cabbage is such a wonderful vegetable, as the variety of dishes that you can make with it never-ends. Its use as a side vegetable or stuffed with meat or fish ingredients for a main course is one way, or for uses in varieties of salads, a wonderful alternative. Of course, no salad can beat one of the coleslaw recipes available for accompaniment to easy or more complicated dishes.

 Cabbage has been a staple food for the Slavic countries over the centuries, much like potatoes for the Irish. Hot or cold, all the various forms of cabbage are delicious; unlike the overcooked version of washed out transparent green, that they used to dish up to scholars at boarding school in not so long ago days!

Homemade coleslaw is so much tastier and better shredded than the one bought at a take-away or a food store, which usually contains some badly sliced lumpy pieces of cabbage.

Here is the shopping list suggestion for a tasty but easy coleslaw recipe:

 

• ½ a white cabbage
• 2 large carrots
• ½ a red onion
• ½ tsp of Dijon mustard
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise – buy a good mayonnaise if you are not making it yourself
• 1tsp of lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

 

Mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice salt, pepper and mustard together. Set this aside while you carefully slice the cabbage and onion into very thin strips and grate your carrots on the coarse side of the grater. Add the dressing to the mix of cabbage, onion and carrot, and then put into a serving dish. Leave in the fridge for a few hors before serving.

• If, you are not fond of onion, leave it out; instead slice up some red cabbage or red pepper for colour.
• Adding some seedless raisins to your salad gives it an interesting and sweeter flavour.

Another traditional and healthy coleslaw recipe is to leave out the mayonnaise, and instead make use of fat free Bulgarian yogurt for the dressing.

Another simple and delicious traditional coleslaw recipe that is so easy to make for yourself or when entertaining friends:

• ½ head of green and a ½ head of red cabbage
• 2 tbsp of lemon juice
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of sugar – or sugar substitute
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Sprinkling of herbs

Shred your cabbages very fine, as you want to have many thin strings: mix the rest of the ingredients together and add to the cabbage. Put into bowl and toss very well. Leave in the fridge overnight before serving. This enhances the taste of the coleslaw.