I like cabbage – it’s such a handy vegetable. You can stir-fry it, use it in soups, salads, wraps, or make it into a fermented cabbage dish for using as a topping or side-dish. There’s probably all kinds of culinary uses for cabbage that I’m not even aware of.
Cabbage belongs to the group of cruciferous vegetables which includes cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts and bok choy. Cruciferous vegetables are rich in antioxidants and recommended as part of a cancer-fighting diet. They are also packed with phyto-nutrients which help boost the body’s immunity system, detoxify and eliminate harmful toxins and hormones, block cancer-causing substances, and stimulate antibodies to fight cancer.
Both red and green cabbages are loaded with nutrients, with high levels of calcium, iron, iodine, potassium, sulphur, and phosphorus. They are also rich in vitamins A, B, C, E, K and folic acid. Because of its reddish pigmentation, red cabbage has higher nutritional content than green cabbage.
The ideal is to eat at least a cup of such vegetables daily. To help you enjoy the benefits of eating more cabbage, here’s a coleslaw recipe with an Asian twist which I just cane across in my local health tabloid. Kudos to food writer Sylvia Tan for creating such a tasty and healthy salad. The addition of shredded roasted chicken makes it a meal in itself, although the salad will still taste great without any meat in it. The roasted almonds may be replaced with almost any other kind of nuts. Almonds, however, are said to have anti-cancer properties.
Like most Asian salads, this coleslaw recipe contains no oil.
ASIAN COLESLAW
(serves four people)
Ingredients:
1/2 head small round white cabbage
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
2 stalks spring onion (also known as scallion or salad onion), chopped
2 green chillies (long, slim Asian variety), chopped
1/2 cup roasted almonds, chopped
1 roasted chicken thigh / breast meat (optional)
1/2 cup water
1 tbs fish sauce
Juice from 4 green limes
1 tbs sugar
Pinch of salt
Method:
1) Shred cabbage finely, enough to fill a salad bowl. Chop onion, spring onion and green chillies and scatter over the cabbage.
2) Lightly toast 1/2 cup almonds in a 100 deg C oven. When golden, remove from oven to cool, then chop the nuts roughly.
3) Discard any chicken skin and shred the meat.
4) Place the meat and nuts on top of the chopped and shredded vegetables.
5) Make the salad dressing. Mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, salt and sugar in a bowl. You can adjust the seasoning to suit your taste. Add to the coleslaw and toss well.
6) Serve as a healthy main course, a side dish, or as a fresh salad to go with an Asian meal.
Posted: August 27th, 2009 under Antioxidants, Cancer, Diet, Immune System Health, Recipes.
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