Tag Archives: radish

Red cabbage, radish and herb salad

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Here is a blast of colour to brighten your January day.  Not only is this salad glorious to look at it also tastes fabulous.   Crunchy raw veg always feels like it is doing us good but can, on occasion, be hard work to chomp through.  This however is an absolute joy to eat with its tangy, sweet and sour dressing and handfuls of herbs alongside the crunch of the radishes and cabbage.

I have mentioned before my aversion to stringent diets, casting aside any of the food groups or making January a form of penitence to salve our conscience following the season of plenty.   Food should be a pleasure, a treat to look forward to everyday and even if you are hoping to shake off a couple of pounds there is no reason why breakfast, lunch and supper shouldn’t be a feast.   You will find plenty of salads amongst my posts, not just leafy green ones although I won’t have a word said against my Favourite Green Salad (January 2014) but ones jammed with other ingredients full of crunch and flavour, freshness and colour.  Try the Thai-ish salad (November 2015), Roast Aubergine, Feta and Mint (July 2015), the Blood Orange, Beetroot and Feta (January 2014) or maybe the Celeriac Remoulade (January 2016) to which I quite like to add some sharp, crunchy apple if the mood takes me.

In short raw veggies are a great way to get yourself back on track.  You are eating healthily whilst tucking into something delicious – win, win.  I can’t recommend this one enough, I got the idea for the reduced dressing from an Ottolenghi salad and then tinkered around until I had this.  Easy and quick it always goes down a treat and that belt of pink, green and magenta goes a long way to lifting spirits on a dreary, grey day.

Red cabbage, radish and herb salad

1/4 red cabbage, finely chopped

10 radishes sliced

20g (a big handful) rocket

20g mint

20g coriander

50ml lime juice (roughly 2 limes)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons light olive or sunflower oil

Toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds, a handful (optional)

Heat the lime juice, maple syrup, chilli flakes and soy in a small pan until syrupy then add the oil, mix well and leave to cool.  When you are ready to serve roughly chop the rocket, mint and coriander then mix together with the cabbage and radishes in a bowl along with the dressing.  Sprinkle with the seeds if you are using them.  Serves 2 for lunch or 4 as a side.

 

 

Thai-ish Salad

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Thai salad 2

Right I must say from the off that this is a Thai salad in the loosest possible sense.  Yes there is coriander, lime juice, fish sauce etc but also apple and radish and I’m not sure quite how authentic they are.   That said, it is fabulous to eat and sometimes I am happy to throw authenticity out of the window.  I think I mentioned it with Paella (January 2013) – I am not trying to recreate an original dish, I simply want to make something good to eat.

This is crisp, crunchy and jam packed with flavours.  The ginger, garlic and (small amount) of chilli give this life and heat whilst the herbs and lime bring zip and zing to the party.  You can leave out the apple if you want but I love their tangy sweetness and likewise the radishes, if they are not your thing omit them but they add peppery crunch and a beautiful pink.

It is a bonus for me that my children like this.  My daughter is a bit of a salad phobe but she adores and this and happily ploughs her way through a bowlful, sometimes adding a little more chilli and then smacking her lips and puffing as a result.   Its good to see them enjoying a bit of healthy salad at this time of year when we are rather surrounded by root vegetables and a lot of hardy brassicas.

This is fab with pork chops or roast chicken (hot or cold) and also works very well with leftovers.  In particular I’m thinking leftover turkey here but then that would make it a challenger to my beloved Christmas Salad (December 2013).  Never mind, we’ll just have both.

Thai salad

Thai Salad

Make the dressing first so that the flavours can sit and meld for a bit.

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons light olive oil

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon sriracha or other chilli sauce

Small thumb ginger, finely grated

1 small clove garlic, finely grated

1/4 white cabbage

1 apple

6 radishes

2 carrots, peeled

1/2 bunch coriander

1/2 bunch mint

Mix the first nine ingredients together to make the dressing.  Taste and adjust as you see fit, a little more chilli perhaps?  Finely chop the rest of the ingredients and mix in a large bowl, add most of the dressing and combine.  You may or may not need all the dressing, it rather depends on the size of your cabbage and carrots!   Enough for 4 as a side.