Simple Coleslaw with Ginger

Simple Coleslaw with Ginger (A Seat at the Table)

This simple coleslaw is one of those recipes that’s really too easy to even be called a recipe. Grandma used to make this all the time, and yet she didn’t even write it down in the cookbook she made me with her favorite family recipes. So I called Mom to ask for the recipe, and of course she doesn’t have a recipe for it either, it’s just a little of this and a little of that. So I’m finally blogging this, so I have a written record and can remember the “this and thats” I added.

I also found out when talking to Mom, that this is apparently the dish that convinced Grandpa that Grandma was indeed “the one”, because her coleslaw tasted just like his moms (the ginger came later after they’d been living in a Japan for a while).

What’s your favorite family recipe? Does your family write recipes out or are they all make-it-up-as-they-go?

Simple Coleslaw with Ginger (A Seat at the Table)

Simple Coleslaw with Ginger

Serves 4 generously

  • 1/2 a small cabbage, thinly sliced (red or green)
  • 1 bell pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
  • 1 large carrot, julienned (optional)
  • 1/4 cup white vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 3/4 tsp grated ginger (or ginger paste)
  • pinch of kosher salt

Before you begin, wash your hands with soap and water. Wash produce by running under cold water.
Use a mandoline (or practice your knife skills) to thinly slice the cabbage, bell pepper, carrot, about 6 cups vegetables total.
In a small dish, mix the vinegar, sugar, ginger, and salt together until well mixed. Toss dressing with vegetables and let sit for about 20 minutes to allow flavors to come together.

Coleslaw will hold up for a couple of days (isn’t cabbage great?) in the refrigerator. You can use both red and green cabbage, but the vinegar makes the red cabbage bleed, so just be warned that it’ll look a little “tie-dyed”.

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