Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts

This colourful, zesty Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts is full of flavour yet contains only a handful of ingredients. Learn how to quick cure vegetables and turn them into delicious, convenient ingredients which can be added to salads, sandwiches, burgers, and other dishes.

This Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts can be enjoyed all year round, as an everyday salad as well as special occasion salad.  This colourful salad makes a fantastic healthy fall/winter dish perfect for the Holiday season.

Easy cured red cabbage salad

Red cabbage is a very healthy vegetable but I tend to avoid it in salads because of its tough often stringy texture.   As I recently discovered, however, this problem disappears if the cabbage is left in a light curing mixture overnight.  It can be used already the following day!  There are so many advantages to using cured rather than raw cabbage in a salad!

Curing infuses the cabbage with more flavour

First of all, it tastes great!  Also, because it’s infused with flavour (sweet, sour and salty) it doesn’t require any dressing other than maybe a little drizzle of lemon juice or olive oil just before serving.  This makes preparation simpler and shorter.

It looks gorgeous

The process of curing gives the cabbage a vibrant purple colour.  It is so much more appealing than a faded purple greyish it would eventually turn without being cured!

Texture

Another plus of curing the cabbage is that it makes it softer, but not soggy, still allowing it to retain some crunch, as it is only cured for about 12 hours.  This red cabbage salad recipe does not share the life cycle of most salads made with raw ingredients (i.e. from crunchy to soggy).  If left to stand for a while, its texture will not change.  So you can leave leftovers in the fridge for a few hours and enjoy them later!

Storing and serving suggestions

Any leftover cured cabbage can be kept in the fridge in an air tight container for 2-3 days.  Add to salads, sandwiches or soups.  You can also serve this salad with Christmas/Thanksgiving turkey leftovers.

Another salad where I’ve used lightly cured red cabbage is this festive Red Cabbage Sprouts Salad with Maple Glazed Pecans.

If you like the idea of quick curing vegetables you may enjoy this Cured Sprouts Salad with Clementines and Turkey.

Easy red cabbage salad

This Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts is really quick and easy to put together.  Simply place pear slices on top of the cabbage and scatter the walnuts and cilantro.  The season to taste, drizzle with a little oil and lemon juice and enjoy!

If you like this easy pear and walnut salad with red cabbage you may also like this Dairy Free Banana Bread with Ginger and Pear.

Print

Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

10 mins

 

This colourful, zesty Cured Red Cabbage Salad with Pear & Walnuts is full of flavour yet is made with only a handful of ingredients - learn how to quick cure vegetables and turn them into delicious, convenient ingredients that can be added into salads, sandwiches, burgers, and other dishes.

Course: Lunch, Salad

Cuisine: International

Keyword: pear, red cabbage, salad

Servings: 3 people

Author: Everyday Healthy Recipes

Ingredients

• 350 g red cabbage about 1/2 medium sized cabbage, grated or sliced thinly
• 2 small/medium pears, conference or other crunchy variety, cubed or sliced, peeled or not
• 1/2 cup walnuts lightly crushed
• 2 tablespoons cilantro roughly chopped
• A drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil, black pepper to taste
• For the curing mixture
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 level teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar

Instructions

1. Coarsely grate or slice (thinly) the cabbage (without using the tough middle bit of the cabbage which can be chopped up and added to soup).  Combine the curing ingredients and pour over the cabbage stirring thoroughly. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

2. To make the salad combine the cabbage with the pears, cilantro, walnuts, season and drizzle with oil and lemon juice.

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RECIPE LINK PARTIES

I am bringing this Cured Red Cabbage Pear Salad recipe to #SaucySaturdays.  The hosts are La Petit Chef, Mid-Life Croissant, Take Two Tapas, and The Flavor Bender.