By Oksana Jeter autumn recipes, budget meals, easy, healthy, high-fiber, low-calorie, low-fat, paleo friendly, salad, spring recipes, summer recipes, vegetables, vegetarian, winter recipes 8 Comments
This is a common Russian version of a traditional coleslaw. It is easy to make, light and relatively low in calories but filling cabbage salad with carrots. How is this recipe different from a typical English/American slaw? There is no mayonnaise in the Russian cabbage salad. Instead Russian cole slaw is dressed with lemon juice, salt and just a bit of oil. It is light, healthy and tasty if you know just one little secret of making it. Here it is…
Ingredients:
- 1 kg of sliced white cabbage (young fluffier and slightly greener heads are preferable)
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1+1/2 Tbsp salt
- 1 tsp whole black pepper corns
- 2 Tbsp superb quality oil: unrefined sunflower, super virgin olive, ground nut or so
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp caraway seeds (optional)
- a handful of pomegranate seeds (optional)
Method:
Take the top scruffy leaves of the cabbage off. Give the cabbage a rinse and then pat it dry. Cut the cabbage off the stem and into large chunks (discard the stem). Now slice each chunk of cabbage as thinly as you possibly can. There are people in Russia who take special pride in their ability to slice the cabbage almost paper thin for salads or soups (like borscht or shee). And there are people who can’t care less, like yours truly. So just do your best and don’t let it bother you too much.
Sometimes this Russian coleslaw is called Provençal cabbage – kapusta Provencal
Place 1 kg of sliced cabbage into a large salad bowl in which you are planning to serve the salad. Add all salt to the cabbage and with your clean hands mix the cabbage with salt slightly rubbing and squeezing it in your handfuls. Here we are doing the same as for the traditional Russian pickled cabbage recipe. Rubbing sliced cabbage with salt will release the juices and make the Russian slaw moist and tasty without too much oil.
Grate the carrots on a large grater and add them to the cabbage. Add sugar, pepper corns, lemon /lime juice, pressed garlic and caraway seeds into the bowl. Caraway is a popular herb in Russian, German and Scandinavian cuisines and it is believed to enhance the flavour or breads and cabbage dishes. If you don’t like the taste of caraway then just skip it. Add oil and water.
If you are calorie conscious skip the oil all together! You will be surprised how the Russian slaw is juicy, filling and tasty even without the oil.
Mix the salad well, cover the bowl with a plate slightly smaller than the opening and put some weight on top of the plate to let the cabbage salad saturate with the juices. Cover all with cling film and keep at room temperature for 1-2 hours. This time is needed for the cabbage to give out more juices and start fermenting. Firm winter cabbage needs more time, fluffy greenish young summer cabbage needs less. This is the little secret of a good not-fattening slaw that I mentioned earlier.
When you are ready to serve the salad, scatter pomegranate over your Russian slaw. Mix slightly again and serve as a vegetable side or a light garnish for meat, chicken and potato dishes. Enjoy!
Here is a winter recipe for a pickled cabbage slaw, also very good and simple to make.
Tags:caraway, carrots, unrefined sunflower oil, white-cabbage
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Oksana
8 Comments
Nadya
I wonder where you got the recipe from… There’s no lemon juice, garlic, or even water in traditional Russian coleslaw ???? Yes some ppl do add sugar but in fact, all you need is cabbage, salt, and carrots. That’s it ?
If you can read or translate Russian, Google “???????? ???????” and you will see that the truly original recipe is much much simpler than yours ????Reply
Oksana Jeter
Hello, thank you for your comment. There are many recipes of popular dishes, every house has its own. Best
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Jackie Brook
A Russian woman I used to know, used to make this (or a very similar) salad. I loved it so much! She always had some made in her fridge, every day. She is since long passed, so I’m unable to just ask her exactly what kind of Russian salad it was, so that I might make some. I’ve been searching for a recipe to try to recreate, but I’m confused because I could have sworn there was vinegar somewhere in there. It looked just like this pickled cabbage salad, and it had a great strong tangy bite to it, just like a kiss of vinegar. So my question is, is there another traditional Russian salad that looks just like this one but involves vinegar? Or does the salad just develop that tang on it’s own from being pickled?
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Oksana Jeter
Hello Jackie. Thank you for your comment.
I believe you might have had a pickled cabbage slow. Have a look here in the bottom of the page. There is no vinegar in it but it is tangy as it is made of the picked cabbage. It is easy to make when you already have a pot of pickled cabbage made in your refrigerator.
Alternatively, there are plenty recipes of cabbage salads, every family has one or two. You can just experiment and try adding some vinegar or lemon juice in the fresh cabbage slaw salad.
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Lauren Pennisi
I went to a Russian food festival last weekend and had this style cole slaw; it was delicious! I’m going to try to recreate the experience with your recipe.
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Oksana Jeter
Hi Lauren, I am glad you like Russian cabbage salad. Good luck with making it at home!
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Also a great side for fish. My Russian ex used to use an empty glass jar to squeeze the juices out. One of the best foods I had while in Russia.
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Oksana Jeter
Hi, thank you for your comment! It is a great side for fish and many other things!
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