I have bypassed coleslaw on many picnic platters. For some reason it just never seemed appealing to me. In the last two weeks my tastes have changed after having coleslaw at two excellent Bay Area restaurants, Bakesale Betty’s (Oakland, CA) and BarBersQ (Napa, CA), and I thought it was time to give coleslaw a try at home.

My first batch of coleslaw failed dismally-way too much crunch and unbalanced flavors. Wanting to be successful, I put a call in to my sister (the slaw expert in my life) to find out what I did wrong. Here’s what I learned:

• Thin, thin, thin slices of cabbage are necessary.
• Don’t skimp on the dressing; it mellows out the strong cabbage flavor.
• Marinate at least 2 hours (overnight is even better).

With these tips in hand, round two went much better and produced a nice crunch balanced out by a creamy dressing with a sweet/tangy flavor. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the recipe below and I think it has a couple of neat twists to it that include cutting down on the mayonnaise and replacing it with yogurt, adding in some complexity with citrus, and boosting it with a bit of agave syrup instead of refined sugar.

If you give the recipe a try or have a favorite coleslaw recipe you’d like to share, please leave a comment in the section below.

Happy feelgood eating!

Coleslaw
(serves 6-8)

• ½ head green cabbage
• ½ head red cabbage
• 5 carrots (scrubbed)
• 1 orange
• 1 lime
• 1 cup whole milk yogurt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons grainy mustard
• 2 tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 cup chopped cilantro (packed)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Remove the outer skins and core the cabbage. Using a very sharp knife, thinly slice the cabbage (as thin as you can go). Place the thinly sliced cabbage in a large bowl.

Fit a food processor with the shredding blade. Place the carrots horizontally in the feed tube (this will give you longer shreds) and process in batches. Add the carrot shreds to the bowl with the thinly sliced cabbage.
Over a small bowl, zest and juice the orange and lime. Add the whole milk yogurt, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, grainy mustard, agave nectar, cilantro, sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper. Whisk to incorporate all of the ingredients into a dressing.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage and carrot shreds. Use your hands to mix thoroughly until the dressing is well incorporated. Place the coleslaw in a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Coleslaw is also a great addition to a sandwich (see picture below)!