Sweet purple cabbage salad

Salads with raw veggies are totally not my thing, I prefer the hardy potato or pasta kind, or a cheese and tomato combo. But discovering the red cabbage inspired me. It’s taken two years to pen down the inspiration and make it happen (0_0) but at least it’s happened! He he he!

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yum!

Funny thing, while I was writing the recipe in my notebook, I put down red cabbage. But when I was typing in the title for the post, purple just rolled out from my subconscious to the tips of my fingers and on to the title field. Suddenly my eyes noticed the screen didn’t match my notes! I quickly glanced at the photos I had taken and sure enough, it looked purple. But red is what I’ve called it in my head for the last two Years. It was time to Google it! So I spent some time reading a bit about this lovely specimen.

It is purple cabbage for sure. It is also red cabbage or blue kraut. Apparently, depending on the pH of the soil it’s growing in, the pigment leans towards the red tones, and other times the purple tones.  So I think the one I got is purple based on the pictures I saw online of the red version. The juices of the cabbage can also be used as a pH Indicator! Imagine that.

It also turns blue when you cook it according to this wikipedia page. Feel free to go over there and read some more about it. I absolutely love the leaves of this cabbage. I am currently looking for a good excuse to use them as a serving bowl in some kind of dish. I haven’t come up with anything that will complement the colour properly yet, but stay tuned! (^_^)

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I would not mind a dress in that colour, it’s delicious and pretty at the same time

So lets start with the onions as they will need to soak for a little bit.

1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
Juice of one lemon
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Place in a mixing bowl and set aside

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the onions in lemon juice and sugar

While the onions are soaking, you can prepare the following

1/3 of a small purple cabbage, cut
1 medium sized carrot, grated, large size grates
A handful of raisins
1 cup freshly cut pineapple, narrow long pieces

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the chopped cabbage and grated carrots ready

Prepare al the above ingredients and keep them separated till it’s almost time to serve. The pigment of the cabbage is really really strong, it will colour everything if you let it sit too long before serving.

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all in the mixing bowl with the pineapple and raisins

When it’s almost time to eat, prepare the dressing below then put everything in a bowl and toss with a fork and spoon. Serve with the dressing on the side or drizzle the desired amount on top and toss lightly again before serving.

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt
2 pinches freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon mustard

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the dressing, ready to be shaken

Place the ingredients of the dressing in a sealable container, close it and shake shake shake!

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ready to drizzle into the salad
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and there you have it…

As you can probably tell, these final shots aren’t from the same day as the process shots. The process shots are from december, but most of the salad disappeared too fast, didn’t get a chance to set up and take photos. What was left was too little and the pigment in the cabbage had turned everything purple. So I waited to make it again before doing the post. I used canned pineapple for the second round, a great substitute if you cant find a sweet pineapple to cut up for it.

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a feast for the eyes

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About aika

Making, eating and sharing good food are a splendid way to start, brake and end a day! I post good eats on www.pendolamama.co.ke. Life is a feast, eat up!

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