Coleslaw used to be one of my favourite salads. Childhood days in my Mum's late 1970s kitchen, when Margaret Fulton ruled (she still does occasionally), and when a "salad" was always lettuce, tomato and cucumber with french dressing. There were only two other variations - Potato salad (with bacon chips from a jar) and the aforementioned, sweet and dripping with store bought "coleslaw" dressing. My mum used to add nutmeg and somehow this translated it into a dessert rather than a vegetable. But one day, I tried the coleslaw from a take-out restaurant, and this soggy mess with raw onions and bland flavour destroyed it for me. I will never eat coleslaw again.
But, I will take some of the ingredients, and give it my own twist. I'll eat this kind, and so does everyone else - it's a party favourite. It even has a crunch honouring my mum's bacon chips on potato salad.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups grated carrot (or fine julienne is better if you can be bothered)
- 2 cups finely sliced red cabbage (also called purple cabbage or blue kraut)
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves
- 1/2 cup mint leaves
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
- 3 tbsp white Japanese sweet sauce (*see note on sauces)
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 cup aloo bhujia for topping **