Name: Lebanese Cabbage Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Lebanese
Ingredients: 500 g white cabbage, very finely shredded; ½ tsp salt; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 4 tbsp lemon juice; 3 tbsp olive oil; 2 tsp dried mint

Lebanese Cabbage Salad

Finely shredded white cabbage tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, dried mint and salt.

10 min total Serves 4 servings Easy

The first sign it is ready is the smell: sharp lemon, raw garlic and the cool scent of dried mint rising from the bowl. It is a salad that announces itself before the first forkful.

Cabbage is tough, so the cut matters. Slice it as thin as you can with a sharp knife, so the strands are almost like hair. Thick pieces stay chewy. Then add the salt and rub the cabbage with your hands for a minute until it starts to soften and release a little water. Let it stand for 10 minutes before eating. The lemon and salt tenderise the cabbage and mellow its sharpness.

Garlic should be crushed with a pinch of salt into a paste, so it spreads evenly. One clove is enough for the whole bowl.

Dried mint is traditional, and it has a deeper flavour than fresh. Serve alongside grilled meat, falafel or rice dishes.

How to Make Lebanese Cabbage Salad

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Put the cabbage in a large bowl with the salt and rub it with your hands for 1 minute until it softens.
Whisk the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and mint together and pour over the cabbage.
Toss well and leave for 10 minutes.
Taste and add more lemon or salt if needed.

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Worth Getting Right

Slice the cabbage as thin as you can.
Rub the salt in to soften the leaves.
Leave the salad to stand before serving.
Use a single clove of garlic, since it is raw.

Ingredient Swaps

An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Fresh herbs work in place of the dried mint at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.

What to Serve With It

Grilled chicken · Falafel · Rice dishes · Flatbread

Keeping and Reheating

Keeps in the fridge for 2 days, getting softer and sharper as it stands.