Back To Basics – The Perfect Coleslaw

In my world, every time I host, I always include coleslaw as part of the spread. While it can be exhausting, I have come to truly enjoy hosting and it is one of my favorite things to do. I love creating an entire experience around food in my home, and I look forward to hosting in my home come 2026!

Coleslaw gets a really bad rep, especially on twitter (and that’s ok, really, we all like different things!). For me personally, I have always thoroughly enjoyed coleslaw. It is infact my favourite way of eating cabbage. I love the crunch. I love how it introduces dimension to a plate. I love how it adds the contrast of soft sweetness to spicy dishes. There are certainly many different ways a slaw can be prepared. What I would encourage you, my love, is to explore, and steer away from those that demand your slaw only has just cabbage and dressing. That is indeed boring but you know, we do not do boring here and I would like to introduce you to a slaw that has more depth and packs loads of fresh flavor.

As you go into the world of delicious coleslaws, allow me to introduce you to my ginger red apple coleslaw recipe. It is super simple, really delicious and one that I totally swear by!

PREP TIME: 30 min    MAKE TIME: 5 min        SERVES: 5

Ingredients

2 cups of shredded white cabbage

1.5 cups of shredded Cabbage

1 large carrot

1 teaspoon of grated ginger

1 grated red apple

2 tablespoons of chopped chives

Salad dressing of choice

Method

The above ingredient quantities are just a guide and can be varied as per your personal preference.

The main body ingredient of any coleslaw- as we all know- is cabbage. White cabbage is a must for this. Make sure to shred it as thinly as possible so that the eating experience is pleasant.

To make this even better – both visually and nutritionally- I added some shredded red cabbage. While red cabbage does not have any taste, it adds a gorgeous visual appeal and also gives you plenty of iron, beta-carotene and Magnesium. Having both red and white cabbage not only makes this more nutritionally dense but also adds visual interest

Another ingredient that adds lots of beta carotene is the carrots. Grate the carrots using the medium side of the grater and have them ready.

Some people prefer to add sugar into their coleslaw – and to each their own. Personally, I find that adding a sweet fruit is a better choice and makes the overall taste alot more layered. My go-to is usually sweet pineapples of the very dark grape varieties – as I told you guys on Twitter – but on this day, I chose to go with Sweet Red Apples.

When I hosted my girlfriends for 2023 Galentines, I made mine with sweet black grapes, can you spot it from this spread (they looooved it so much btw 💛 )?

I posted this on Twitter, where I find myself most comfortable to just write about my musings so if it interests you to know abit more about me, find me there

I love having some grated apple in the body. Be sure to use the sweet varieties as the sour ones will throw off the flavor profile of the slaw. In place of apples, you can use a very sweet pineapple (PLEASE try this it really is bomb AF) – cubed really small.

For abit of depth and warmth, I added some fresh minced ginger. Now this is the game changer!!! Trust me on this, fresh ginger (not powder!!) does belong in this coleslaw. I would advise, start with a small quantity, mix, then taste and then, in the event you need some more, add some. That is far better than adding too much – which would be overwhelming – and ruining the whole slaw. Start small and adjust upwards if/when need be.

A great slaw needs some herbiness too. Sometimes I add some dill, but often, I reach out for some finely chopped chives.

With everything done, pop all the ingredients into your bowl and toss. Now we proceed to dress. You can use any dressing you like! For me, the one I like most for my coleslaw is the Heinz Salad cream or the Golden Country Salad dressing.

These two dressings are light, very flavorful and give your coleslaw a much better flavor which using plain mayonnaisse would never.

Add in your salad cream, as much as you see fit, and give one more mix and then serve!

Pure deliciousness!!! Perfect flavor! Perfect crunch! Perfect depth!

I most certainly enjoy the texture that the slaw adds to any dish. For this particular one, I also enjoyed the sweetness of the apple, the warmth of the ginger and the mild herbiness of the chives. Creamy and super delicious!

You can truly serve your coleslaw with anything! It goes so well with anything! You can have it as part of a sandwich, with viazi karai, with kuku choma and fries and my personal favourite – with pilau! Explore any combo you feel drawn to, either way, the coleslaw is sure gonna to shine!

On this day, I served mine with some roasted baby potatoes, some sticky pork ribs and pilipili ya kukaanga.

I hope you loved this post! I have made a complimentary video to this, please pass by and watch and be sure to subscribe to my channel.

Make sure this recipe is part of your festive season spread! It is the bestest way and I look forward to see you fall inlove with it 💛

Happy Wednesday!

Get your downloadable recipe here :))

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