Cabbage salad with cucumbers and carrots will bring spring flavors to your table. The salad is a tasty and easy vegetarian side dish, perfect to accompany your meat or fish main courses.
You can prepare cabbage salad all year round, especially during its season when the cabbage is new and tender. Why prepare cabbage salad? Because it is cheap and healthy. It is a salad suitable for many dishes, including hamburgers. Moreover, it is a must when paired with pulled pork. When properly seasoned and well adjusted, the cabbage salad becomes the queen of the table. So prepare more of it because there will be high demand.
Is cabbage healthy?
Apart from the fact that it is used in the kitchen in so many ways, cabbage also has other health benefits. Cabbage is a vegetable rich in phytonutrients and vitamins such as A, C, and K, as well as natural antioxidants that prevent cancer and heart disease by neutralizing free radicals.
Cabbage promotes a healthy intestinal transit and prevents constipation as it contains a lot of fiber. Besides that, cabbage juice is indicated in the treatment of ulcers because it has alkaline properties that help reduce inflammation of the stomach lining. Moreover, the vegetable contains vitamin C, which strengthens the immune system and protects us from colds and flues. Isn’t it the perfect product especially for the spring season when many people struggle with colds and flues?
There are lots to say about this simple yet absolutely necessary vegetable, but we have a recipe to make.
Ingredients for cabbage salad
Cabbage salad can be prepared with cabbage and dressing alone, or it may be the basis of a vegetable salad. To make it tastier, crispier, and more vibrant, you may add raw grated carrots, slices of cucumbers, celery root, thin slices of radish, bell peppers, onions, or others. Actually, let free your imagination and find the perfect combo for you. I’ve found the perfect cabbage salad for me and I’m utterly proud to share it with you. See below the list of ingredients for the best cabbage salad:
- Cabbage, fresh green cabbage is best for a crunchy salad. To feed a family of four you will need about a third of a head of cabbage, a medium one.
- Carrot. Grated or thinly cut into strips, one medium carrot is enough.
- Cucumber. One medium-size cucumber cut into strips.
- Onion, one medium red onion
- Olive oil to coat in the salad
- Half a lemon to squeeze out its juice
- Salt to taste
- A few cherry tomatoes for decoration
I’ve come to this formula and I find it very tasty and versatile. With a list of such simple and basic ingredients, you can prepare a home-like, comfort and healthy dish to pair with any other main course of your preference.
What is the best dressing for cabbage salad?
The dressing of a salad can either enhance the taste or kill it. If there is something I hate, it is the fact that some restaurants offer you unseasoned salads. I find it unforgivable for a chef not to be able to taste and adjust a salad, leaving the guest to struggle to season it.
My favorite dressing for the cabbage salad is the mixture of olive oil with fresh lemon juice. I find it an elegant and simple choice to coat the crispy vegetables. This dressing will only enhance the authentic taste of the salad and you will actually sense the sweetness and juiciness of the veggies.
Also, you may consider coating the cabbage salad with carrot and cucumber with yogurt dressing. Mix yogurt with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 minced garlic clove and mix. Again, this dressing is light, a bit sour, and perfectly complementing the vegetables. The yogurt dressing is a great choice when you wish to cook keto coleslaw.
Raw salads must remain crispy, to have a note of freshness. The sour dressing contributes to the softening of the vegetables. Therefore, it must be poured over the salad only a few moments before serving. Otherwise, the veggies will soften, look unsightly and lose their fragility.
How to make the cabbage salad?
The cabbage salad with carrots and cucumber is very easy to prepare. To complete this raw-vegan dish, you will spend only as little as 10 minutes of your time. Start by removing the outer sheets of the cabbage. They have been exposed to dust and bacteria, yet, they have protected the other layers. Therefore, the sacrifice is fully worthy.
Next, use a sharp knife to half the cabbage. Put it on a cutting board and start slicing it lengthwise. Cut think slices, always move the cabbage to cut it from different angles. That is easier and the result is more satisfying. Put the cabbage in a bowl and get your attention to the carrot.
Peel the carrot and slice it through. Next, cut each carrot ring into thin sticks or, a la julienne. To ease up the process, use a grater and grate the carrot. You can’t use the same easy grating technique with the cucumber, thus, cut it in thin sticks just like described for the carrot.
Finally, peel and slice half an onion and add everything to the bowl with the cabbage. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, squeeze the juice out of half a lemon, and season with salt. Mix and serve immediately. Decorate the salad with a few quarters of cherry tomatoes.
How to serve the cabbage salad?
Serve the salad next to a nice and rustic steak, or next to roasted fish. Consume the salad immediately as it will loosen its juices and lose its crunchiness if left for a few hours. If you wish to prepare it in advance, skip the seasoning step.
Hope you enjoy this simple yet healthy cabbage salad recipe.
Cabbage salad with cucumbers and carrots
Ingredients
- 1/3 cabbage fresh, green
- 1 medium carrot
- 1-2 medium cucumbers
- 1/2 medium red onion
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 2-3 cherry tomatoes for decoration
Instructions
- Remove the external sheets of the cabbage
- Cut the cabbage in halves
- Thinly slice the cabbage lengthwise, always move to cut the egdes
- Put in a bowl
- Peel and grate the carrot, add to the cabbage
- Slice and cut the cucumbers in thin sticks, add to the bowl
- Peel and slice one half of red onion, add to the bowl
- Season with salt, olive oil, and fresh lemon juice
- Mix and decorate with a few quarters of cherry tomatoes
- Serve with pleasure
