Spicy Napa cabbage coleslaw: a new SPIN on A CLASSIC SALAD
Mayonnaise was the last non-Paleo food I gave up when transitioning back to Paleo. Before that I ate Vegenaise made with grapeseed oil because I thought it was healthy.
Then I discovered that even grapeseed oil was inflammatory. This blew my mind. I knew that canola, sunflower, safflower, soy and corn and cottonseed oils were bad but somehow I thought grapeseed was ok. It’s power of good marketing I guess.
Because mayo is generally made with one of the bad oils listed above, Paleo compliant mayo is hard to buy in the store. The only solution is to make your own. You can use avocado oil, olive oil or your favorite nut oil.
Even though it seemed easy, I resisted this for a while.
Almost 20 years ago, I watched someone whip up fresh mayo by hand by stirring the oil until it emulsified and became fresh mayo. I remember thinking that it was pure magic and way too much effort to make mayo this way.
I didn’t know then that you could save the labor and use an immersion blender like this one:
This blender has come in so hand. It makes making soup a snap because you can blend it right in the pot. And I used bone broth based soups this past winter to heal my husband’s leaky gut. You can use it to make smoothies too. It’s such a great blender on the go.
When I finally made mayo with this blend I couldn’t believe how easy and tasty it was.
Here’s the recipe I used. A simple mix of oil, eggs, lemon juice, salt and mustard prepared in minutes in the container that comes with the blender.
Now that I had fresh mayo I made Caesar’s salad dressing, tuna salad, crab salad and my favorite dip in the world, sriracha mayo!
Sriracha is a spicy Vietnamese version of ketchup but with a lot less sugar. This is the brand I use to make a flavorful aoli and my napa cabbage cole slaw.
Yes, there is a tiny bit of sugar in the sriracha, but did you know that most coleslaw recipes call for 1/4 cup of sugar? I was stunned to learn this. It’s crazy how sugar seems to sneak into such unexpected places.
This coleslaw offers a slight kick along with the creamy tang you’d expect. It’s a fun, easy and exotic twist on a familiar potluck dish.
Ingredients
6 cups of chopped napa cabbage
1/2 cup of sriracha
1/2 cup of mayo
1 teaspoon of salt and pepper to taste
How to
Chop the napa cabbage. Whip up some mayo and mix it with sriracha.
Mix the salt and sauce into the cabbage and chill for half an hour.
It tastes even better the next day after the flavors mingle and the cabbage wilts a bit.
I served it with sliced sausage, tomato and Thai peppers on the side. That extra spice get the endorphins flowing, while the cabbage cools you off in the heat!
Enjoy!
- 6 cups of shredded napa cabbage (this cabbage is oblong instead of being round)
- ⅓ cup or sriracha
- ⅔ cup of homemade mayo
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- Shred napa cabbage and put in a bowl
- Add salt and toss
- Mix sriracha with mayo well in a separate bowl
- Pour mixture over cabbage and mix well
