Cabbage Salad with Apple and Caraway

Now firmly into cabbage salad season, this apple and caraway version is a fun twist to the classic Greek Lahanosalata or Politiki (meaning from ‘The City’, i.e. Constantinople – full explanation here!)

Key to its success, like always, is super fresh ingredients. Cabbage that has sat around too long is not tasty. You can use one cabbage or mix it up with red, green or white varieties. Slice it super fine. Likewise, a crisp, sweet apple and super fresh carrots. If you are lucky enough to buy heirloom varieties such as purple or yellow carrots – you have a super luxe cabbage salad!

The salad is seasoned with salt and pepper, garlic, dill and caraway seeds and then garnished with spring onions and pomegranate seeds. They are in season, so I am using them in everything. However, you could swap the pomegranate seeds for red pepper or some raisins.

With any Lahanosalata or cabbage salad, the trick is to massage it in the dressing and then leave it for an hour or so to work its wonder in the fridge. I guess it’s no surprise that it turns into something so flavoursome, given how delicious pickled or fermented cabbage is.

Cabbage with apple and caraway goes with everything from fish to meat and even on its own with a slice of cheese. Perfect if you have a big gathering, as you can make it well in advance, and if there’s any leftover – seal it in an airtight container, and it will be tomorrow’s lunch.

Lots more salad recipes to try here.

Cabbage Salad with Apple and Caraway

Cabbage, apple and carrot spiced with garlic, caraway, dill and pomegranate seeds.

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Course: salad

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: vegetarian, winter vegetables

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 4 people

Author: The Wild Epicurean

Equipment

• 1 large salad bowl

Ingredients

• ½ cabbage (leafy green, white or red or mixture of all three!) Sliced as thinly as you dare use cannon ball, savoy or red cabbage
• 2 large carrots, grated
• 1 large eating apple, grated
• 2 spring onions, sliced diagonally using as much green leaf as possible
• 3 cloves grated garlic
• ½ banana chilli, finely chopped optional
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• ⅔ tsp salt
• 1 small lemon – juice and zest
• 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds
• freshly ground pepper
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Instructions

• Start by zesting and juicing the lemon and adding it to the salad bowl.
• Grate the apple directly into the juice and toss immediately to stop it from browning.
• Add all the remaining ingredients except the pomegranate seeds, spring onions, salt, garlic, oil and vinegar.
• Toss the ingredients to make sure everything is well distributed. Sprinkle with the salt and toss again.
• Whisk together the oil, garlic and vinegar and pour over the salad. Massage the salad with your hands to ensure the dressing covers everything.
• Ideally, put the salad (covered) in the fridge for an hour. When you are ready to serve, check for seasoning – maybe a little more salt, oil and vinegar. (see notes)
• Serve garnished with spring onions and pomegranate seeds. Toss again at the table.

Notes

It is not vital to put the salad in the fridge for an hour before serving, but it does improve the flavours if it is allowed to infuse for a little while. For this reason, it is perfect for a large gathering as you can make it well in advance. It will also keep a day or two in the fridge if kept in a sealed container.

Don’t add all the dressing at once; add maybe three-quarters of the dressing and massage it into the salad. After leaving to rest for an hour – check the seasoning and add more oil and vinegar if you feel it needs it.