A cabbage salad
We can’t lay claim to this fabulous dish; it’s based on a Palestinian recipe from Joudie Kalla’s stunning book, Balaidi Palestine (Quarto UK, 2018). We’ve tweaked and played with it a bit, amping up the garlic and using a stick blender to emulsify the heck out of the dressing. It’s basically coleslaw, but w-a-y better. Feel free to add more sugar, acid, cumin or dried mint to the dressing; We’re always playing with it. Most times we strew a handful of Turkish dried black olives over the top too; their meatiness is fantastic, but not crucial. If you hang around the Lazy Sunday long enough you’ll realise we like salad, regardless of the season, and use a lot of stick blender – we can live without most gizmos, but not that one. Most are actually more powerful than a standard food processor meaning they make short work of blitzing just about anything.
SERVES 4
2½-3 packed cups finely shredded* cabbage
4 large radishes, finely sliced*
½ a large fennel bulb, trimmed and finely sliced* widthwise
125g Greek-style feta, cut into small cubes
handful of mint leaves
Dressing
2 tsp caster sugar
4-5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 tsp dried mint
3 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice, or to taste
100ml extra virgin olive
For the dressing, combine everything in a tall, round container, then blitz using a stick blender. Alternatively, do this using a blender, nutrabullet or food processor;the dressing should be thick, emulsified and creamy. Season to taste, adding a little more sugar, cumin, mint, lemon juice or vinegar to taste.
Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle over the dressing, then gently toss to coat. Serve. That’s it.
*using a mandoline makes short work of this and gives a better over-all result. Otherwise, #knifeskills 🔪
