Updated: fresh and crunchy winter slaw

Ages ago when I was on Nick Coffer’s Weekend Kitchen at BBC Three Counties radio, a lovely lady called Polly had this delicious recipe for this fresh and crunchy winter slaw made with shredded sprouts that was such a lovely mix of textures and flavours: fresh and crunchy, spicy and sweet.

Try as I might, I can’t find the recipe anywhere, but I’ve given it a go with what I can remember and it came out rather well. You can use sprouts, if you have them, but this works just as well with a whole cabbage instead of half and is DELICIOUS with red cabbage. Just make sure you shred everything nice and thinly. I’ve made this loads since I first published this post in January, and I don’t think I’ve ever made it quite the same - I’ve done it with celeriac, without celeriac, with finely sliced beetroot… with chilli, without chilli… all sort of things, and it always comes out so well. You really do need the celery salt - one of the ingredients I do remember, so see if you’ve got some at the back of the cupboard.

Fresh and crunchy winter slaw

250g raw sprouts, shredded (or use green or red cabbage)

1/2 white cabbage, shredded

3 carrots, grated

2 red onions

1/4 celeriac, grated

2 cooked, vacuum packed beetroot (optional)

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced (optional)

For the hot dressing:*

3 tbsp honey or brown sugar

50 ml white wine vinegar (or the zest and juice of two limes)

3 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 tsp celery salt

So basically it’s as simple as shredding all your veg and mixing them together, then heating all the dressing ingredients in a saucepan until they’re just bubbling.

Pour the hot dressing over the vegetables, toss and serve immediately. This is extra nice if you’ve got any herbs around - we loved it garnished with a couple of handfuls of fresh parsley and mint. I served it simply with grilled chicken breasts that had been rubbed with some jerk seasoning, but it would be lovely with burgers, steak… anything really.

When I substituted the lime juice for the vinegar, I didn’t bother heating the dressing, but it wasn’t quite as good. I know it seems really weird to heat up fresh lime juice, but there’s something about the hot dressing over the crunchy veg that gives this slaw a really nice texture. If you feel weird about it, just use the white wine vinegar and maybe squeeze some lime over the finished dish.