If you are looking for a heathy burst of colors in your menu, this red cabbage salad is right there! Raw and deliciously crunchy, it makes a great lunch on its own or can be served as a side to a sandwich or another meal.

purple cabbage salad, red cabbage recipe

This raw cabbage salad is made of red cabbage, yellow beets, orange carrots, slivered almonds and plenty of seeds with a simple lime-olive oil dressing. I made a big batch of it in the evening and served a little as a dinner side and the rest was lunch. It is easy to store the chopped vegetables and keep the dressing separate, to be added a little before eating.

Last couple of months when I was traveling, what I missed most in food was eating salads as I generally avoid raw food in travel. But now that I am back home, salads are back on the food menu. I prefer a light raw salad lunch as it keeps me fresh and energized throughout the day. After a cooked lunch, I always feel like I need a little longer break before getting back to work and definitely a cup of coffee soon after. But salads are easier to digest and not cause any sluggishness.

Green Cabbage or Red Cabbage?

Red and Green cabbage difference — Source

The most commonly eaten variety of cabbage in India is the green cabbage which we lightly sauté with spices into a vegetable fry. But recently, red cabbage (or purple cabbage) is also increasingly available in stores and at local vegetable vendors. Once I was asking my local grocery lady about where she gets it from? She told me a small farmer just outside of Udaipur grows these speciality vegetables on an organic farm. So they are as local as they can get!

Both green and red cabbages can be eaten raw, but personally I find red cabbage better for salads and green cabbage better for sautéing.

Red Cabbage is healthier than Green Cabbage!

I love raw purple cabbage (I wonder why it is called red because it is definitely a purple color to me! But well what’s in a name :-)). Deep red or purple, it adds a wonderful color and it’s got a nice juicy crunch.

The color also means that the red cabbage is rich in polyphenols that have unique anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.
Red cabbage also has more Vitamin C than regular Green Cabbage.
Cabbage belongs to the cruciferous family of vegetables that also have cancer-fighting properties.

How to cut cabbage for salad

I wish I took a few pictures to show it. But hopefully words will do the justice. To slice a cabbage for salad for slaw:

Remove the outermost leaf (and any other limp leaves) of the cabbage, wash, and dry with a kitchen towel.
Cut it into half. Lay each half on the cutting board with the flat surface down.
Make one cut in the center along the length of the cabbage. Then carefully holding the cabbage half with one hand, thinly slice along the width till you reach the end of the cabbage.
Discard the bottom stump. Repeat with the other half.

What Salad vegetables can be added to Cabbage Salad

Red cabbage salad, purple cabbage recipe

Red cabbage goes with all kinds of salad vegetables. I’ve used carrot and yellow beats here to create a medley of colors. Use any seasonal vegetables like cucumbers, salad greens, bell peppers, and zucchini. Even fruits like oranges, apples, and pears will be a good addition.

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