Forget about all the coleslaw you ever tasted before. This is the one you want. Hands down the best crunchy creamy coleslaw with tahini dressing, fresh lime and cilantro.
Perfect as a sandwich or burger filler or simply a great side dish for Thai beef koftas, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin or juicy oven-baked chicken breast.
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I don't get why people search for coleslaw KFC recipes. It's terrible. And that's an understatement. The only coleslaw recipe you want to be cooking is this one.
This recipe for coleslaw is the bee's knees. Add in the velvety smooth creamy tahini dressing and you have yourself a flavour explosion.
The great thing about coleslaw is that it's very easily customisable and you could serve it with almost anything as a side dish or use it as a sandwich filler.
Useful equipment
Mandoline
Electronic Kitchen Scales
Gyuto Japanese Chefs Knife
Storage Containers
Ingredients needed
- Cabbage - Red and white cabbage. The younger the better as old cabbage tend to be bitter sometimes and extremely watery.
- Red onion - Make sure it's good quality, young and sweet.
- Carrot - Nice, firm and fresh.
- Herbs - I used cilantro(coriander). Below are some variations on this.
- Tahini - Use a good natural brand. Nothing emulsified.
- Sesame oil - Use a nice fragrant toasted sesame seed oil.
- Mayonnaise - Either make your own lemon mayonnaise or use something like Hellman's real. They don't pay me for saying that by the way)
- Sesame seeds - Make sure to toast them in a pan if not toasted already. I use a mix of white and black. It looks nice.
- Honey - Natural runny honey. You could also substitute with other sweeteners. See the section below on variations.
How to make it
- Wash all the vegetables and herbs thoroughly.
- Shred the cabbage finely with a mandolin or a sharp knife.
- Grate or julienne the carrots finely.
- Chop the cilantro(coriander) finely.
- Whisk the ingredients for the coleslaw sauce together until well combined.
- Mix the sauce into the vegetables making sure it's all well mixed in. You could bruise the vegetables a bit to make sure the sauce goes into all the nooks and crannies.
- Let it stand for a few minutes to macerate so the cabbage release a bit of juice. Give a fresh mix-through.
- Serve with a few lime wedges, fresh cilantro(coriander) and toasted sesame seeds.
There you have it. Way better than any coleslaw you ever tried and look at the colour on that. Bam!
Variations
You could adjust this coleslaw recipe easily to your personal liking or create a completely different recipe altogether by tweaking the following ingredients.
- Vegetables and fruit - You could use other crunchy vegetables here too. Think kohlrabi, green papaya and apple. Add in dried fruits like apricot or raisins if you like that. Just remember to tune down the honey in the dressing as that is also sweet.
- Herbs - Substitute the cilantro for chopped parsley, chervil, chives, dill, basil, tarragon, mint or a combination of these.
- Oil - Most extra virgin oils can be used in place of the sesame oil. Just be mindful of the intensity and flavour so that it does not overpower the other flavours of this recipe.
- Mayonaisse - You could easily replace the mayo with sour cream or yoghurt to make it healthier and lighter. To be honest, the bit of mayonnaise in this salad is negligible when mixed with the juices from the cabbage.
- Nuts and seeds - you could substitute the sesame seeds for roasted peanuts, cashews, pecans or seeds like pumpkin sunflower and flax.
- Heat - If you like it spicy you could turn up the heat by adding in some chopped chillies or ground up chilli flakes. Alternatively, add a few spoon fulls of hot sauce like homemade sriracha or a small spoon of adjika paste.
- Sweetness - Adjust the sweetness in the dressing by changing the honey to maple or agave syrup or using sugar alternative like stevia if you are following a low sugar diet.
Vegan version of this recipe
To make this a vegan coleslaw recipe you only need to do one thing. Remove the mayo or replace it with a vegan alternative.
You could also make a nut relish instead and blend the cilantro with some apple, water, cashews, lime, honey and a touch of seasoning.
Just be mindful of the sweetness from the apple and honey. Add sparingly and balance the taste. a touch of heat and mint also goes well here.
Alternatively, use avocado blended with some water until it looks like mayo, and use it as a substitute, taking note of the balance between sweet and sour.
Serving suggestions
- Meat - Crispy pork belly. Great alternative to pulled pork. With lamb koftas on fresh soft flour tortillas.
- Fish - With whole roasted angelfish or this juicy pan-fried salmon fillet.
- With fried food - Why does KFC serve coleslaw? It's good with fried food. They just can't make it properly. Think fish and chips, fritters, falafel, fried chicken and Thai fish cakes.
Frequently asked questions
I normally go for 150 grams of side salad. This measure works for any side salad and it's what we use in professional kitchens mostly.
No, the texture will be horrible once defrosted.
Coleslaw can keep for about 3 days in the fridge. Keep in mind though that the cabbage will give off a lot of juice so stir that back in. Make sure it's properly covered to avoid taking any other flavours from the fridge or drying out.
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Recipe
Coleslaw with Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 200 g (3 cups) white cabbage - finely shredded
- 200 g (2 ½ cups) red cabbage - finely shredded
- 100 g (1 cups) carrot - grated
- 30 g (3 tablespoon) red onion - finely sliced
- 20 g (1 cups) fresh cilantro - chopped
For the tahini dressing
- 30 g (2 tablespoon) tahini
- 10 g (⅔ tablespoon) dijon mustard
- 3 g (¾ teaspoon) sesame oil
- 100 g (½ cups) mayonnaise
- 30 g (1 ½ tablespoon) honey
- 4 g (⅔ teaspoon) fine sea salt
- 4 g (¼ tablespoon) white wine vinegar
- 1 g (½ teaspoon) black pepper - freshly cracked
Extra for serving
- 5 g (2 ½ teaspoon) sesame seeds - toasted
- 1 (1) fresh lime
Instructions
For the salad
- Wash all the vegetables and herbs thoroughly.
- Shred the cabbage finely with a mandolin or a sharp knife.
- Grate or julienne the carrots finely.
- Chop the cilantro(coriander) finely
For the Sauce
- Whisk everything together until well combined.
To assemble and serve
- Mix the sauce into the vegetables making sure it's all well mixed in. You could bruise the vegetables a bit to make sure the sauce mixes in nicely.
- Let it stand for a few minutes to macerate so the cabbage release a bit of juice.
- Serve with a few lime wedges, fresh cilantro(coriander) and toasted sesame seeds.
Notes
- Make this coleslaw vegan by using a vegan mayonnaise or omitting completely
- If you are allergic to sesame then skip the tahini, sesame oil and sesame seeds.
- Use this coleslaw with pulled pork tacos, smoked beef brisket, and as burger topping.
- You could add sliced apples, raisins, curry powder, toasted almond flakes or pumpkin seeds to jazz it up even more.
- To make a complete omnivore salad, add some hot smoked salmon, grilled chicken or fried strips of steak.
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