If you’ve ever felt the need for an accompaniment to your Rick Stein’s India inspired curry night that isn’t brown, beige, yellow, or orange, this is the salad for you. The final instalment of the recipes created in my own kitchen (from here on out it’s going to be a series of recipes for whatever I can dubiously cobble together in an ill-equipped Airbnb kitchen while I fanny around Europe), this salad is the business. It knocks all of those sad three cherry tomato / dry cucumber slivers / massive bits of raw onion numbers out of the park, so your beige curry meal guilt can be assuaged in mad delicious style.
Toasted coconut & mustard seed slaw
½ red cabbage, shredded finely
½ white cabbage, shredded finely
1 red onion, sliced thin & soaked in the juice of two limes for 30 minutes
2 red peppers, sliced thinly
1 handful fresh coriander
2 fresh red chillis, sliced thinly
¼ cup dried curry leaves
2 tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 cup coconut chips
Zest and juice of two lemons
Salt & pepper, to taste
Toss the cabbage, lime-pickled onion, peppers, chilli and coriander together in a bowl. Heat some neutral oil in a frying pan and add the mustard seeds, turmeric, and curry leaves, and fry gently until fragrant. Add the coconut chips and fry until golden. Leave to cool, then toss through the salad (though save a little for garnish) with some salt, pepper, and the zest and juice of the lemons. Serve garnished with extra coriander and coconut chips. Perfect with a curry!