Red Cabbage and Cumin Salad

I love cabbage - and the added benefit is that it's really good for you. Red cabbage is even healthier than white cabbage - as the color indicates. In general, the darker and deeper the color of any fruit or vegetable, the healthier it is - the color signifies a greater concentration of nutritious stuff.

I still haven't been able to master the thin slicing technique (my Serbian mother-in-law slices it paper thin, by hand), but we can live with that. And although I don't particularly like the results of cooked red cabbage, I think it works great in salads.

I stole the idea for this recipe from a local cafe here in Dubai called Organics. This salad was so good, so I came up with a recipe - it came pretty close, and maybe even better than the one in the cafe. It's a great way to introduce some variety and flavor to your more traditional salad, which can become boring.

Ingredients:

1 head (or 2 small heads) red cabbage

1 lemon

2 tablespoons balsamic vinager

1 tablespoon tamari or light soya sauce

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 bunch Green onion

1 handful raisins

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 inch piece of ginger

1 clove garlic or garlic powder

1 dried red chili pepper (or flakes, or a fresh pepper)

S&P

sesame seeds to garnish

Slice the cabbage. This last time I used baby cabbages, which were divine - they are so easy to work with - I managed a pretty decent slice - and tasted great. Rinse and put in a big bowl.

Grate the ginger and garlic, or finely slice, into the bowl. Finely chop or crush the pepper. Chop the green onion tips. Add all the ingredients to the cabbage. Mix well, taste, and adjust according to your fancy. This gets better the longer it soaks.

The salad goes great with many dishes. We had it last night as a light dinner along with some grilled haloumi cheese, and I had the leftovers today with some chicken breast (which I seasoned with salt, pepper, crushed garlic, lemon zest, thyme, and olive oil, and grilled in the oven for about 20 minutes)