Not yo Mama’s Coleslaw!
Unless your mama is from western India, chances are this is not your mother’s mayo-smothered, garlic powder-ridden coleslaw.
This Indian Slaw A.K.A. Bund gobhi nu shaak is nutty, tart, with a citrus burst, these crunchy shreds of cabbage pack just the right amount of heat from the fairly benign Serrano chiles.
Serve it, as is, for a salad course, or as an accompaniment to your traditional picnic fare. For an elegant presentation, serve it after the appetizer course mounded on top of romaine heart leaves with an edible flower as garnish, when seasonal of course.
Tips from Raghavan Iyer:
1. A decent-sized supermarket, worth its weight in gold, should stock dried unsweetened coconut either in the health foods aisle or the baking section.
If they don’t, grab that bag of highly sweetened coconut shreds in the baking shelf that is often a key ingredient in coconut cream pies and other coconut-based desserts like macaroons (my weakness.)
To use it in this recipe, dump 1/2 cup of the sugary shreds into a medium-size bowl. Cover it with water and run your fingers through to wash some of the sugar. Empty this into a fine-meshed colander (think tea strainer). Dump the coconut back into the bowl and repeat with the rinsing, washing, and straining.
You may need to do this cycle three to four times to make sure all that sugar is gone. An underlying sweetness is fine since freshly shredded coconut does have an inherent sweet taste.
2. I am a sucker for cooked cabbage. Oftentimes with the leftover salad I will add it to a skillet with a little water to cover the bottom of the pan and heat the cabbage until it warms through.
A little extra kick from a liberal sprinkling of ground red pepper (cayenne) takes care of my addiction for nutty, hot, crisp-tender cabbage until the next fix.
3. Peanut allergy sufferers, if you are alright with any other nuts, use them as alternatives.
Enjoy this delicious recipe courtesy of Chef Raghavan Iyer.
Eat well…Jenn
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