Creamy Slaw with Tahini & Miso
A creamy, vegan slaw to make all year long.
I love a slaw. It’s the texture that I’m so into. Crunchy, usually cold and easily scoop-able with a fork. It’s a great way to eat vegetables and endlessly tweak-able.
Cabbage is so F-ing good for you. It has tons of fiber and nutrients, awesome. Helps with inflammation in the body, also awesome. It also can heal the lining of your stomach if you’ve ever suffered from ulcers. I had one, and I drank straight cabbage juice every morning for two weeks. Ulcer? No more!
Buy wisely. To get the most out of cabbage, buy organic when possible. Since you’re eating it raw, there’s no need for pesticides here, yuck. If you have access to a farmers market, definitely get your cabbage there. Because it was probably picked the day before, so super fresh and super flavorful. Best part of al these scenarios? Cabbage is one of the least expensive vegetables. So big bang for not so many bucks.
…and as always say THANK YOU to the cabbage, to the farmer, and to yourself for cooking and treating yourself so well.
Ingredients:
Dressing:
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 Tablespoons tahini
2 Tablespoons miso (white or yellow)
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
Slaw Ingredients:
1 head of a small cabbage or 1/2 head large. shredded (see notes)
4 scallions, finely chopped
small handful of cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (see notes), plus more for garnish
…Some worthy, but very optional, add ins:
chopped baby spinach
shredded radishes
sunflower seeds
basil
mint
the kohlrabi you got in your CSA box that you don’t know what to do with.
Here’s How:
To Make The Dressing:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Using a fork or small whisk, store them until combined. At this point it might seem very thick, all tahini brands are different.
If it’s too thick, thin with cold water, starting with a tablespoon at a time. You want a consistency of pancake batter, so it will combine well with the slaw, but not make it wet.
To Assemble The Slaw:
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss together until everything is well distributed.
Drizzle with half the dressing, and toss well. At this point you can decide if the slaw needs more dressing. If not, then store the remaining dressing in a jar in the refrigerator and use as a salad dressing or dip.
Sprinkle on some more sesame seeds as a garnish.
Notes:
If you don’t know how to toast sesame seeds, heres how: Place the un-toasted sesame seeds in a small pan. Turn the heat on medium. Toss them constantly, until they all turn gold brown. Transfer to a bow immediately so they stop cooking. They burn very very quickly, so don’t walk away while doing this!
You can also buy pre-toasted sesame seeds at asian markets. They’re OK, but they don’t have that freshly toasted flavor.
Shredding Cabbage: It may be very obvious to you, what that means. But it may not be. There are two ways to do this. With a sharp knife and take your time or with a mandoline. Either way you want to quarter the cabbage, cut out the solid core and then cut it up. Alternatively you could buy pre-shredded cabbage in bags. But there’s a few issues with that. 1. lots of plastic packaging 2. The nutrients may be lost for being pre-cut and sitting in that bag forever 3. The cabbage tends to dry out from being pre-shredded.