Thai red curry tofu and cabbage salad

I recently read the book Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultramarathon Greatness by Scott Jurek. It was truly excellent and perfectly matched my love of running (albeit my running is nowhere near the scale of Scott's!) and my love of plant-based food. Scott discovered vegan eating as he ran longer and harder, and he is a clear example of how plants can fuel amazing athletic achievements.

At the end of each chapter, Scott includes a recipe. One was for Thai red curry sauce to pair with tofu and a raw cabbage salad. Thus this meal was born. It was delicious and has reminded me of cabbage (it had dropped off my food radar) and introduced me to Thai red curry flavours (I don't think I've had them before).

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Fruity summer coleslaws: Apple peanut butter slaw and sweet + spicy pineapple slaw

There is a big coleslaw divide in our household. I can't stand the traditional sort - it is up there with macaroni cheese as one of my most disliked dishes - whereas Mr Bite loves it. Unfortunately for him, my dislike of mayonnaise-y coleslaw means he rarely gets it at home, and if he does, it has to be store bought. More fortunately, he is quite tolerant of coleslaw variations like the Asian style slaw I've posted before (with a dressing of ginger, lime, soy and chilli instead of mayonnaise).

Peanut butter slaw

Whilst he likes some of my coleslaw variations, the two in this post were more to my tastes than his. This may be attributable to the inclusion of fruit in both; I am always happy to have fruit in my savoury dishes whilst he's not such a fan. So, if you share my preference for fruit in your salads, and for light coleslaw alternatives, I recommend these salads to you!

Sweet + spicy pineapple slaw

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Kale, cabbage and apple salad with a peanut dressing

Kale. It's almost become unfashionably fashionable; the stereotypical health food, thrown out as an example of new age eating and January dieting. I'm torn between being pleased that kale is readily available and winning over an increasing number of hearts (and stomachs), and sorry that it's become another 'bandwagon' food.

Mostly, though, I don't worry about it too much. I just enjoy eating it.

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Thai coleslaw with mango

Another month, another cabbage dish! In truth, my vegetable box deliveries gave me a break from cabbage for a while. I was almost starting to want another cabbage to appear...and then one did, and I was reminded of just how large they are, and just how much fridge space they take up.

Happily, I found a way to put this particular cabbage to good use. It was so good, in fact, that Mr Bite labelled the dinner when this appeared "11 out of 10". Definitely a win.

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Baked cabbage and apple

You know those weeks where you open your fridge and a full-sized cabbage stares back? Taking up precious fridge space (in our house at least; fridge space is never sufficient!) and asking for attention? And, you know that as soon as you take it out of the fridge and chop it up, the cabbage will magically expand across your chopping board and generate a larger quantity of vegetable than you started with?

I know. Cabbage has its merits, but it can also be a bit challenging.

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Ginger-chilli-soy coleslaw

It seems that remembering my New Haven Asian-style coleslaw prompted me to want, well, more Asian-style coleslaw. I'm suggestible like that.

If I'm honest, I'm also eager desperate for ways to use up cabbage. I love my fortnightly vegetable box delivery, but sometimes there are a lot of vegetables to get through myself. Last time, I got a whole cabbage, a whole cauliflower, and a whole broccoli. Mr Bite eats none of these vegetables unless they are well disguised. Finding clever uses for them has been necessary!

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Leon-inspired purple cabbage and beans

Sometimes, mid week, you just need something simple. Easy, quick, nutritious, comforting, and simple. No fuss, no fancy ingredients, and hardly any time.

This is the first recipe I've adapted from our new Leon cookbook (the one I ordered for Christmas after we ate and enjoyed Leon food in London) and it fulfilled all those requirements.

My adaptations from the original recipe were quite extensive. This may be summed up by the original dish being titled spring greens. It included white cabbage and peas, and did indeed look green in the book.

My version was clearly not green. I used purple cabbage, omitted the peas, and added white beans (except they ended up purple). I did retain the caraway seeds of the original recipe, and am glad I did so - I think they added a subtle flavour that brought the dish together. It's the first time I've used caraway seeds and I'm now quite quite keen to experiment further with them.

We had this for dinner the first night with quinoa (me) and baked potato (Mr Bite), and I've been enjoying the leftovers for lunch this week. It's a good dish for going the distance. I imagine it would pair well with pasta too, or rice, or any other grain base.

Leon-inspired purple cabbage and beans

Adapted from the spring greens recipe in the Leon Ingredients & Recipes cookbook

Makes a side dish or meal accompaniment for 4 to 6

Vegan

Print recipe

Ingredients

1/2 a purple cabbage, roughly chopped

1 medium leek, sliced

1/2 tsp caraway seeds

3 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups cooked white beans (I used great northern beans but any white beans would work)

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 bunch fresh mint, chopped

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper, a dash of each

Method

In a large saucepan, bring 1 cup water to boiling and then add the cabbage, leek and caraway seeds. Cover and simmer over medium heat for ~4 minutes.

Add the spring onions and continue simmering, stirring occasionally, for a further 3 - 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the white beans and vinegar and seasonings. Keep over low heat for a further 1 - 2 minutes, then serve with rice, quinoa, or baked potato.

I wasn't expecting the colour to be quite so vivid, but I am glad it turned out that way. Food is more fun colourful!

I am submitting this to Ricki's Wellness Weekend 7th - 11th February 2013, and to Healthy Vegan Friday #29, co-hosted by Gabby, Carrie and Katherine.

Do you use caraway seeds regularly? What about cabbage? 

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