18/11/2019

Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw

Name: Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 3 tbsp mayonnaise; 3 tbsp natural full fat yogurt; 1 tbsp cider vinegar; 0.5 tsp garlic granules (optional) (or fresh garlic, finely grated); salt and pepper (to taste); quarter medium head white or green cabbage (finely shredded); quarter medium head red cabbage (finely shredded); 2 medium carrot (julienned or grated); 2 sticks celery (finely sliced); 1 small onion (red, yellow or white) (skinned, halved, finely sliced); 1 tbsp parsley (finely chopped); 1 tbsp chives (optional) (chopped); 2 tsp poppy seeds (optional); 1 tbsp sunflower seeds (optional); 2 eating apples (prepare just before adding to the dressed salad) (cored, halved, thinly sliced or cut into batons)

Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw is a great variation on the classic salad of shredded vegetables in a creamy dressing. Crisp eating apples and a splash of cider vinegar give a tart edge and yogurt mixed with the mayonnaise lightens this satisfying side salad.

Jump to Recipe

We eat quite a bit of coleslaw at our house. With the simplest versions containing just cabbage, carrot and onion in a creamy mayo-based dressing, you can be sure we’ll almost always have the ingredients in the fridge to whip up a batch.

Quick to make, coleslaw is great when you want some crunch with a meal. Once you’ve got the basic coleslaw recipe, you can add different ingredients to make it more interesting and ring the changes. Extras I like to add include:

thin strips of red, yellow or green pepper
thinly sliced celery
sliced or shredded radish
red instead of, or as well as, the usual white or green cabbage
dried fruit such as raisins or sultanas
fresh herbs like parsley and chives
nuts and seeds, e.g. almonds, walnuts, sunflower, sesame, poppy or hemp seeds
additional seasonings in the dressing, e.g. garlic, mustard, horseradish

Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw

The variation I’m going to share with you in this post is a Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw. The addition of apples plus cider vinegar in the dressing gives it a lovely sharp edge. But you still get the creaminess from the dressing.

Talking of the dressing; for those which are usually mayonnaise-based, I prefer to combine mayo and full fat plain yogurt in roughly equal amounts. I think this gives a lighter, less cloying dressing but one that’s still satisfyingly creamy. I make all my own yogurt these days: learn how to make yogurt in an Instant Pot here.

All you do to make the dressing is whisk the ingredients together: yogurt, mayo, salt and pepper and any additional flavourings. In the one you see here I’ve included garlic granules, but you could use finely grated fresh garlic if you prefer.

This is my standard coleslaw dressing, but for Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw I also add a tablespoon of cider vinegar. Together with apples, sliced or cut into batons, this gives a lovely tanginess.

I think the coleslaw benefits from being made a little ahead of time to meld the flavours, so I combine the prepared vegetables and the dressing around thirty minutes before I’m going to serve it. If possible, I prefer to add the apples a little later, so they’ve less chance of softening. But it isn’t absolutely necessary if you’re using good, crisp eating apples.

Serving Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw

Coleslaw alongside a baked potato topped with cheese is a classic. But with some of the batch you see in this post, I took that up a notch by scooping out the flesh from a baked potato and mashing it with Stilton cheese plus leeks which I’d sautéed in butter. Stuffed back into the potato shell and reheated, this was superb comfort food alongside a big pile of Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw and a couple of free-range pork sausages.

Of course, apple is a classic accompaniment to pork, its acidity cutting through the rich meat. I love coleslaw with slow-roasted pork belly and my tangy apple version is even better. Here, instead of slicing the apple, I cut it into thin batons of similar size to the shredded cabbage and carrot. I think this nicely echoes the lines cut across the hasselback potatoes.

Although I wouldn’t make coleslaw just to put in a sandwich, any leftovers give a lovely crunch to thick slices of cheese on good bread.

However you eat this Tangy Vegetable & Apple Coleslaw, I think it’s a great staple recipe to have in your repertoire.

Quick to make and easy to adapt to whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, you can flavour it as you please.