A while ago, Mark & I ate at this really neat restaurant called Mosaic Cafe in Rockville, MD. They did delicious waffle sandwiches, which we truly enjoyed. However the highlight of the meal for me was their ginger slaw side.
As mayonnaise and I do not get along, I generally do not eat cole slaw served at diners [unless truly starving], but this stuff was amazingly different. Mark and I sat there during lunch and tried to figure out what was in it.
I think we did a really good job approximating it.
Surprising Ginger Slaw
Ingredients:
1/2 head cabbage, red
4 carrots
4 stems of broccoli
1 apple, preferably only semi sweet
1 cucumber
2 cloves garlic [or to taste]
sesame oil, not more than 2 Tbsp
veggies on hand [ie. bell peppers, onions, zucchini, kale]
fresh ginger, to taste, but at least 2 inches
favorite (mostly) neutral oil [olive, grapeseed, etc.]
vinegar [preferably rice wine, but whatever's on hand will do in a pinch]
Grab your mandoline [this can be done by hand with a knife, but it's gonna take a lot longer and the pieces may not be as thin as ideal, which will cause their flavours to matter a whole lot more (ie. maybe not the zucchini unless you are mighty fond of it--if you mandoline it up however, the dressing will coat it and it'll be delicious)] and thin slice all of the veggies. I do the cabbage by hand, but that’s it.
Finely mince [or use your garlic press; if you do not have one, please add that to your next kitchen-gadget purchase, they are amazingly handy] garlic and ginger [or, preferably, use your micro planer on it. Or juicer/food processor/blender, if it comes to that--if using juicer or high powered blender you do not need to peel the ginger].
Combine the ginger, garlic, and sliced veggies in a large salad bowl. Toss well, and make a dressing from the vinegar, neutral-ish oil, and sesame oil. Do not use more than 2 Tablespoons sesame oil–it’s quite strongly flavored. I probably used roughly 4-5 Tbsp olive oil, 5-6 Tbsp vinegar, and 1.5 Tbsp sesame oil. But adjust for your oil-vinegar ratio taste on most salads, as well as how many veggies you have sliced up, and how well they are drinking the liquids. I often toss in a bit of thyme and basil, but that’s quite optional.
If you can bear it, let the salad sit somewhere cool [fridge or near an open window] for 45-60 mins to let the flavors combine. It will just get more delicious as time passes, but it smells so good I usually can’t wait more than half an hour.
The result is impossibly bright & fresh tasting [hard to describe it any other way], crunchy as anything, and sublimely lovely. I’d forgotten how wonderful this was. I must make it far more often.
Serves 3 hungry folks as a main meal, more if served as a side. Left overs keep well [after a few days it is less crunchy, still tasty though], but we never have any left.
[...] dinners, feeding 8 people. Although in the second dinner’s case, there was a large bowl of Ginger Slaw also [...]