Crunch

I do love coleslaw - but I only realised this a few years ago, after making it myself for the first time.  Shop-bought coleslaw is not to my taste at all: sickly mayonnaise, raw onion and tasteless carrots are the things I complain about most.  But homemade coleslaw is a whole other thing entirely.  Crunchy, fresh, light, full of flavour - it's an energising, satisfying thing to eat - not a weird, creamy garnish to be pushed to the side of your plate.

The key to a coleslaw which I will enjoy eating lies in the dressing.  I knew I didn't want plain mayonnaise, so I experimented with various other dressings - some with mayonnaise and some without.  I eventually settled on a blend of yogurt and mayonnaise, sharpened with cider vinegar and spiced up with a great deal of black pepper.

I love mayonnaise made by the French brand, Maille.  I particularly like this one, flavoured with a subtle hint of mustard.  I bring back several jars of it whenever I go to France, but they sell it in Waitrose too.

I don't like raw onion in coleslaw either - its flavour overwhelms everything else.  A finely sliced spring onion can be a nice addition, although is not essential.  The two key ingredients you need are cabbage and carrots.  I like coleslaw made with any cabbage - red, green or white are all good, although red cabbage does tend to bleed its colour a little and make the coleslaw a pale shade of pinky-purple.  This is not really a bad thing, mind you. 

In its simplest form the coleslaw I make is a quarter of a cabbage, sliced very finely, two fat carrots, peeled and grated, and a spoonful of dressing.  This can be put together for supper or lunch at very short notice - I usually have all the ingredients I need in my fridge.

But coleslaw can be fancified too.  Today I made a cheese and grape version, which was wildly successful.

The List Writer's Crunchy Cheese & Grape Coleslaw

For enough to feed a family of four, you will need:

• a quarter of a large green cabbage, cored and finely sliced
• 2 fat carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 50g mature cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
• a small bunch of seedless green grapes, sliced into quarters
• dressing to taste

For the dressing, mix together in a little bowl:

• 1 tablespoon of good mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt
• 1/2 a tablespoon of cider vinegar
• lots of freshly ground black pepper

Put all the coleslaw ingredients together in a large bowl and mix together with the dressing  - a spoonful at a time until it looks right to you.  Use your judgement here - you may like your coleslaw more or less creamy than I do.  Any leftover dressing, or coleslaw, will keep in the fridge for several days.

Good things to add to simple coleslaw (in place of the grated cheese and grapes above):

• cheddar cheese and diced apple (I find if you grate the apple into the coleslaw the whole thing becomes watery and sour - dicing the apple is a much better idea)
• toasted sunflower seeds and sultanas
• sliced radishes and chopped roasted peanuts
• chopped walnuts (serve this walnut coleslaw with sourdough bread and slices of parma ham - completely delicious)
• a finely sliced spring onion

We eat our coleslaw with all sorts of things:

• cheese on toast
• jacket potatoes
• sandwiches
• peppery cumberland sausages
• a good pork pie from the local butcher

And once every few weeks, when I am feeling in need of a little lunchtime indulgence, I walk up the road to our local Pakistani cafe, buy one of their VERY spicy lamb samosas, and come home and eat it with a big pile of cooling, homemade coleslaw on the side.  It's a crunchy, spicy, flavoursome feast fit for a queen (or king).