Red Cabbage Salad

First salad I made after breaking my two arms – yes, I broke both arms last August, riding my bicycle. Braked and swerved to avoid hitting another cyclist who appeared on a cross path – traveling at a terrific pace. I was on a dirt path, coming down a short, steep hill. Broke my bones when my body hit the dirt. I was taken to ER in an ambulance, where after waiting 5 hours I was told I had a broken left wrist and a broken right elbow. I was incapacitated.  Fortunately I was with a friend at the time, a very good friend, who stayed with me for a few days and helped me; and came back every day and helped. It took a while to get the use of my arms back, and one of the things I missed most (besides playing my ukulele and doing yoga) was my own cooking!

As I gradually regained use of my arms, I was so hungry for one of my special salads. I needed to nourish my arms, feed my body with good bone building food, and tend my gut at the same time.  So I made this cabbage salad.

You’ll notice it calls for leeks, and there’s no onion. That’s because my friend – who looked after me with my broken arms – has an aversion to onions. He can eat them, he just doesn’t like them (hmmm). Sometimes I sneak them into cooked dishes, but raw salads take mincing it so fine it’s unrecognizable and you only get a trace of the flavor – whereas leeks work with the other ingredients like a mild onion, and impart a wonderful taste.

Toss together:

• half a head, small red cabbage, thinly sliced, about 3 cups loosely packed
• about 1 1/2 cup thinly sliced leek, include green top
• about 1 1/2 cup thinly sliced fennel, use the whole thing, heart, stalk and feathery top
• 1 large carrot, grated – about 2 cups
• about 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 large clove garlic, finely diced
• about 1 and 1/2 tablespoons finely diced fresh ginger

Set aside to marinate.

Roast together for 30 minutes in a 250F oven:

• 2 T raw cashews
• 2 T raw almonds
• 2 T raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 T raw sunflower seeds
• 2 T raw sesame seeds
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 T sesame oil
• 1 T olive oil
• 6 Brazil nuts

Add roasted nuts to cabbage mixture, toss and serve.

Yum! Delish!

I thought: “This is such a beautiful, colorful salad – take a picture, quick.”  But alas, we ate it all before I could get up from the table to get the device – tossed aside in favor of face-to-face interaction with another human being. It happens a lot at my table, so that’s why there isn’t always a picture.