Coleslaw Salad

You may find coleslaw served with your meal as a side dish usually this is paired in fried meat or barbecue together with a wedge of potatoes. Coleslaw or also known as “Cole Slaw” or simply “Slaw,” the name coleslaw come from a Dutch term “Koolsla” which means cabbage salad, the “Cole” comes from the Latin word “Colis” which means cabbage. This salad is made of cabbage that is thinly shredded and dressed with mayonnaise.

When it comes to easy salad recipe, coleslaw is always the top choice, shred a cabbage add mayonnaise, and you got a coleslaw, but this recipe will teach you how to make a crisp coleslaw with three different dressing.

Tools:

Adjustable Mandoline

Mandoline Matchstick Size Attachment

Large Bowl

Step 1: Prepare Tools and Ingredients

• To make the coleslaw, you will need a mandoline that can be adjusted to a thin size that’s as thin as a potato chip or closer and also a match sticks shredding attachment for the mandoline for shredding carrots. But if you don’t have these tools, you may use a knife and a cutting board by slicing the cabbage thinly and chopping the carrots into 2” long matchstick. Then you will also need a large bowl.
• The first ingredients you will need is cabbage, you may use a green or purple cabbage, or you may use both, next is a carrot, one large carrot is already enough to make a large batch of coleslaw. You may also add any veggies you think that is suitable for your salad like a large radish or a cucumber, make sure that you also shred this veggie if you are going to add it.
• For the dressings,  the first thing you’ll need is a mayonnaise as of most of the coleslaw recipe, two of the sauces main ingredients are mayonnaise so if you going to make a large batch of coleslaw consider buying a significant amount of mayonnaise. Second is buttermilk; this is a liquid left behind after churning butter out of milk this may be purchased in liquid form or powder form. However, if you do buy the powder form, the mix ratio is every ½ cup of buttermilk powder mix it with 1 tablespoon of water. Next is the pickle you can buy it that is already minced or if you don’t find one just chopped a pickle finely. The mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and other ingredients are available in your local groceries, the olive oil you may use any type of it as long as its olive oil.

Step 2: Slicing and Soaking the Veggies

• Take your mandoline then adjust the size into potato chip size or closer to this size, then take your large bowl and place the mandoline on top of the bowl, cut your cabbage into half to make it easier shredding the cabbage, then shred the flat side of the cabbage into the mandoline.
• Watch your hand for the blade, a cut from a mandoline slicer is more painful than a cut from a knife.

Attach your matchstick size attachment to your mandoline, peel and cut your carrot into 2” long. Then shred the carrot into the mandoline to produce a 2” long matchstick carrots, you may also cut the carrot half so that it will be easier for you to hold the carrot while shredding and again watch out for the blade.

To make your coleslaw crisp wash the shredded veggies with water a couple of times, strain out water then soak them in clean, fresh water for 30 min. If you’re going to add cucumber, no need to soak it with water but if you’re going to add radish you may also want to soak them.

Step 3: Making the dressings

Ranch Dressing:

• Take a small bowl and mix inside the bowl the mayonnaise, mustard, buttermilk, lemon juice, minced pickle, salt and pepper. Mix it gradually until well combined then set aside.

Honey Mustard:

• Take another small bowl and mix inside the bowl the mayonnaise, mustard, buttermilk, and honey. Mix it gradually until well combined.  If you don’t want you’re dressing too sweet you may add a little salt to balance out the sweetness. Set aside.

Balsamic Vinaigrette:

• Take another small bowl then mix in the small bowl the balsamic vinegar and mustard, add a small pinch of salt then mix it thoroughly. Slowly add the olive oil in droplet speed about 2-3 drops per second while rapidly whisking the sauce. The sauce should be a little thick, and the oil should not be separating from the vinegar if it starts to separate, hold the olive oil for a while and continue to rapidly whisk it, once the oil no longer separates you may continue adding the oil until all oil is mixed with the sauce. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.

Step 4: Assemble the salad

• Drain the water out the veggies and strain them dry and transfer them into a bowl. Add your desired dressing then toss them gradually. You may sprinkle black pepper on top and add flower cut veggies for decor. Make sure to drain the vegetables dry before adding the dressing or this will result in a watery salad if not properly drained out. You may use a paper towel to rapidly dry them by laying a paper towel flat then place a small amount of shredded veggies in the centre of paper towel, cover it with another paper towel then press down to absorb the excess liquid, do it with a small batch at a time.