Káposztasaláta (Hungarian Coleslaw)

After eating too many rice meals days on end, I decided it was time to revisit some of my childhood food. As we all do, I absolutely adored my Grandmother's cooking. My family would devour delicious Magyar food everytime we visited my grandparent's house and had many generous feasts on birthdays and religious celebrations.

One side dish that would always be a part of a banquet was káposztasaláta, which is Hungarian style coleslaw. It is quite different from the coleslaw that Australians are familiar with, as there is an absence of mayonnaise. In turn, the dish is beautifully light and refreshing, perfectly complimenting the heavy meaty dishes that Hungarians enjoy.

Being able to make a perfect káposztasaláta is some what a right of passage for a Hungarian girl. Despite only being half Hungarian (from my father's side), this is still one dish that I need to do right! On the occasions that I prepared this salad from my grandparents (Nana & Tata), they strongly approved. phew!

After all, the recipe was passed on from Nana and she is the expert.

So there are a few things that are very important in getting this dish right:

• Firstly you need super fresh cabbage! Not that I should even have to mention always using fresh produce, but really, what you are trying to achieve with this dish is crunchy sweet fresh cabbage. If the cabbage was old you will definitely end up angry Hungarians, and you DO NOT want that.
• You need to make sure to slice the cabbage as FINE as possible. You will definitely need your knife to be super sharp and have patience because if the cabbage shreds are thick, the whole dish turns out wrong.

Ingredients

1/4 of a large cabbage - finely shredded

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp white sugar

1 tsp apple cider / white vinegar

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Finely shred cabbage with a sharp knife and place in a bowl.
2. Add salt, sugar, cider/ vinegar and oil to shredded cabbage and mix to distribute ingredients.
3. Leave the cabbage for 15 minutes, mixing the salad every 5 minutes. This time will allow the cabbage to slightly pickle and give a good texture.

This salad is perfect with crumbed veal schnitzel and roasted paprika potatoes as I have here. Any other heavy meat dishes would also go well such as roast/ grilled meats, sausages or meatloaf.

Recipe: Nana Margita Koroknai