Spicy Cabbage, Tomato, and Radish Salad

Light and Summery Salad

Recipe from The Cooking Decade

Like the Thai Napa Cabbage Chicken Salad, I have no idea where this recipe came from. Unlike the Thai Salad, it’s a magazine clipping, not scribbled in my handwriting. This is another recipe from The Cooking Decade, a looseleaf binder of family recipes given to me by my sister Chris, who says she’s in her second non-cooking decade. You didn’t hear it from me, but she’s a fabulous cook when she chooses to be, and all of the recipes from her Cooking Decade have been triple tested and family approved. Plus this particular recipe is great for using up those tomatoes that are coming in like crazy right now.

Building the Salad

Like the Thai Salad, this mostly-cabbage salad is dressed very lightly. There’s just a bit of oil and a small amount of dressing. So it won’t soak the veggies, drain down to the bottom of the bowl, or draw out water from the veggies if you have leftovers. And you probably will, unless you cut the recipe in half.

Because of the red pepper, this dressing has a kick, even though it’s light. The original recipe calls for ½ tsp. of ground red pepper, which makes it quite spicy. We usually use the ¼ tsp., which makes it “kindly warm,” as hubby Bruce puts it. You can start with less, or more, to your taste.

According to my handwritten notes on this recipe, you can use any proportion of cabbage, tomato, and radish that you happen to have on hand. At different times I’ve used either extra radishes or tomatoes with ½ cabbage, with fine results. The original recipe says to use either rice vinegar or lemon juice, but we found that rice vinegar was too wimpy. You might, however, substitute lime juice. Feel free to get creative with it!

Ready to Serve

Spicy Cabbage, Tomato, and Radish Salad

serves about 12

1 medium cabbage, ~2 lbs.

2 medium tomatoes, ~¾ - 1 lb.

½ - 1 bunch radishes, ~6 oz.

2 tbsp. lemon juice

¼ tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

¼ - ½ tsp. red pepper

2 tsp. olive oil

~ ½ bunch fresh cilantro

lemon wedges for garnish (optional)

Remove core from cabbage and slice thinly into reasonably bite size strips. Cut tomatoes into ½ inch cubes. Slice radishes. Separate cilantro leaves from stems, chop coarsely.

In a large salad bowl, mix together cabbage, tomatoes, radishes, and cilantro.

In a small bowl, mix together lemon juice, salt, red pepper and black pepper till blended. Whisk in olive oil.

Pour dressing over vegetables and toss. Let stand 20 minutes, toss again, and serve with salt, black pepper, and additional lemon if desired.

Use Any Proportion of these Veggies