Cabbage, apple and tofu salad with sweet caraway dressing
Welcome to To Vegetables, With Love, a celebration of a vegetable life, less ordinary.
My book Tenderheart is available from Books are Magic, Kitchen, Arts and Letters, Book Larder, Bold Fork Books and also here or here.
There was half a purple cabbage in my fridge, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I spent most of Monday morning ruminating about what to cook with it. Inspired by sauerkraut, I considered drenching it in strong white vinegar, showering it with flakes of sea salt, and then roasting it, giving me a dish akin to roasted salt and vinegar cabbage. I thought about pan-frying it, dusted in Diaspora Co Tandoori Masala for an aromatic vegetable dish to eat with basmati rice. I was hugely attracted to the idea of roasting wedges until charred and tender, and then serving them with a Thai-style curry and coconut sauce.
In the end, I chose salad.
Now those are six words that encapsulate a lot of my life choices.
In deep winter, my body craves salad that is hearty but fresh, with plenty of crunch. I crave heavily scented herbs like dill and I turn to bold spices like caraway to add earthiness.
With the cabbage in my fridge, I made this crisp salad with hints of anise. I added apple for tart sweetness, tofu for bulk, toasted almonds for crunch, and finished it with nutritional yeast for an unexpected hum of umami. The nutritional yeast is optional and you can substitute with any number of savoury, cheesy options - grated Parmesan or pecorino would work, while crumbled feta would add a nice salty creaminess. This is also a perfect prep ahead dish - I ate it over several days and the cabbage maintained its robust crunch.
COOK / EAT / SHARE
This week, I cooked my butternut squash lasagna from Tenderheart on The Drew Barrymore Show with Drew and my friend Pilar Valdes. Watch here and here. If you haven’t already made this recipe, I strongly advise you to do so soon. It’s SO good. It has definite lasagna vibes but the butternut squash (which replaces the pasta) brings earthy sweetness. You could substitute with other veg too - eggplant, zucchini, sweet potato, potato. You could also add in more vegetables like leafy spinach, kale or chard. It’s easy to veganize too - I made it recently with Violife mozzarella and Kite Hill ricotta and it worked a treat. You could also use homemade cashew cream.
A reminder for my friends in Australia, you should all be making this dumpling tomato salad, which was a viral hit of our North American summer last year. Two great meals for any time of year are my fried cheese with chickpea ‘gravy’ (you could use tofu, paneer, haloumi, queso freir or any other fry-able cheese), Singapore noodles with charred scallions, creamy vegan tofu noodles, broccoli fusilli with walnuts and feta, and one pot tomato pasta.
This week, I’ll also be making my own classic, haloumi with cucumber, tomato salad and (homemade) tzatziki (yes, out of season but I salt the tomatoes to coax out their sweetness). It’s a dish I’ve been making for my family for a long, long time (even prior to kids), and found of way of fashioning it into a salad so I could include it in my first book COMMUNITY.
, who I met almost a decade ago at the Perth Writer’s Festival, has been ruminating about tzatziki for a few weeks over at his Substack and he shared my recipe from Community this week.Cooking from Tenderheart: I made the sweet and tangy cabbage with glass noodles the other day and boy, I almost ate it all myself. So satisfying. I’m also in the mood for potatoes, so I’m feeling a baked potato dinner on my horizon this week. Also I’m craving the ginger and rye sticky date puddings (ginger chapter).
THIS WEEK’S RECIPE
Cabbage, apple and tofu salad with sweet caraway dressing
© Hetty Lui McKinnon for To Vegetables, With Love
The caraway brings in warm anise / licorice notes with hints of citrus. I also love adding seeds to dressings for a slight crunch. The texture is fun. If you don’t have caraway, you could substitute with fennel seeds.
Serves 4-6
Sweet caraway dressing
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, grated
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (or sub with fennel seeds)
2 teaspoons grain or dijon mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper
Salad
extra virgin olive oil
450g - 500g (about 1 pound) extra firm tofu, sliced into 1.25 (1/2-inch) pieces
sea salt and black pepper
1/2 small purple or green cabbage (about 600g 1 1/3 pounds), halved and finely sliced
1 apple, core removed and cut into matchsticks
50g (1/3 cup) toasted almondsÂ
Large handful dill, chopped
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast or grated cheese such as parmesan or pecorino(optional)
To make the dressing: place the shallot, garlic, caraway seeds, mustard, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup or honey, sea salt and a few turns of black pepper into a large bowl (large enough to fit the cabbage and apple) and whisk to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes while you prep the tofu (this time will soften the bite of the shallot and garlic and allow the flavors to meld).Â
Meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium high heat. When hot, drizzle with olive oil and add the tofu slices. Drizzle the top with olive oil, season with sea salt and black pepper, and panfry until the bottom is golden, about 2-3 minutes. Flip them over and panfry the other side. Set aside to cool, and then slice into 1.25 (1/2-inch) strips.
To the dressing, add the cabbage and apple and toss until well coated. Add the tofu, almonds, dill and nutritional yeast or grated cheese, if using, and toss again to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper. The salad should be sweet and savoury.
If you’re looking for a newsletter recipe, see my Substack recipe archive here. For recipes with a 🔒 symbol, you will need a paid subscription. Everything else is free.
🥦 My cookbook, Tenderheart is for cooking vegetables, all year round. Pick up your copy here. It is also mostly vegan (or vegan-izable) and gluten-free adaptable.
In the end, I chose salad. -- this will live rent free in my brain. Can’t wait to try this recipe!!
Cabbage is a staple in my vegetable drawer. So perfect to add to salads, soups, or stir fry dishes. Looking forward to letting purple cabbage shine in your Cabbage, Apple Tofu Salad Recipe. Eating more tofu was just one of my New Year's resolutions to up my diet explorations. Thank you!