Cabbage boiled for three minutes, cooled, and mixed with tomato, onion, carrot and cilantro. Dressed with lime and salt and nothing else.
Three minutes, and why
Not raw and not cooked. Three minutes in boiling water takes the raw sulphurous edge off cabbage and softens it just enough to be pleasant, while leaving the crunch intact.
Five minutes and it starts going limp. Ten and you have boiled cabbage, which is a different and less appealing thing in a salad bowl.
Drain it well and let it cool before it meets anything else, or the residual water dilutes the lime and the tomato goes soft.
No oil in the dressing
Lime juice and salt is the whole thing. This is common in Colombian salads and it makes them considerably lighter than a coleslaw, which is the dish this most resembles from a distance.
It also means the salad has no fat to carry flavour, so the salt matters more than usual. Taste it after dressing rather than before.
The cheese is optional
The ingredient list has it without a quantity and the method says if you use it. Crumbled fresh cheese adds salt and body and turns a side dish into something more substantial.
Queso campesino or queso fresco is what would be used in Colombia. Feta works and brings more salt with it, so ease off the seasoning.
Eat it soon
Cabbage and tomato both release water as they sit, and within a couple of hours the salad is sitting in a pool of its own liquid. It is a dish to make close to the meal.
More salads
- Carrot salad — raw and grated.
- Beet and carrot salad — with mayonnaise.
- Avocado salad — with corn and lime.
- Colombian vegetables — what goes in a salad there.
Cabbage Salad FAQ
Three minutes takes the raw sulphurous edge off and softens it just enough, while keeping the crunch. It is the middle ground between a raw slaw and boiled cabbage, and it is what this salad is built on.
It goes limp. Five minutes is the point where the texture starts to go, and by ten you have boiled cabbage rather than a salad.
None. Lime juice and salt is the whole dressing, which is common in Colombian salads and makes this much lighter than a coleslaw. It also means the salt matters more, since there is no fat carrying flavour.
Queso campesino or queso fresco, crumbled. It is optional. Feta works as a substitute but brings considerably more salt, so season the salad afterwards rather than before.
Not by much. Cabbage and tomato both release water as they sit, and within a couple of hours the salad is sitting in liquid. Blanch the cabbage ahead if you like, and assemble close to the meal.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ small cabbage, shredded
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- ½ small onion, finely chopped
- 1 small carrot, grated
- Lime juice, to taste (this is the dressing: there is no oil in it)
- Cilantro, chopped, to taste
- Cheese, optional (fresh cheese, crumbled)
- Salt, to taste
Notas
Instructions
- Bring a little water to the boil and cook the shredded cabbage for about 3 minutes over medium-high heat. This softens it just enough to be pleasant to eat while keeping its crunch, and takes the raw edge off the flavour. Drain it well and let it cool.
- Mix the cabbage with the tomato, the onion, the carrot, the cheese if you are using it, and the cilantro. Add lime juice and salt to taste and turn everything over.
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