Salad for a Week. Fuyu Persimmon Slaw

It looks as if it's time to make coleslaw...I mean, cabbage salad again!  A good client of Marks gave us a bag full of Fuyu persimmons from her tree so I decided to add them to green and red shredded cabbage, along with some cilantro....that's about all I had in the fridge!  Cabbage salad has been a staple in my diet for years and years now since it's one of the easiest to prepare ahead of time.  also I find it to be extremely versatile, and the best part, undressed, it will last at least a week in the fridge.

Since I made enough for a week (why not, right?), how I store it will make dressing it, when I eat it, super simple! After I shred my veggies I give the mixture a good pinch of salt, and squeeze lemon juice all over, toss it in a large stainless steel bowl, cover it and refrigerate until I'm ready to eat.  Because I've already added the acid (lemon) all I have to do is add the fat...mayo, or oil.  

The acid keeps everything from turning brown.  Lemon is usually my first choice, but vinegar, or a mixture of citrus and vinegar is always another option.  (apple cider, white wine, flavored vinegars, etc.).  Sometimes, like in this case because of the persimmons, I drizzle a little honey, or sprinkle a little sugar at the same time I salt it, but that's personal taste and preference.

Fuyu persimmons always remind me of Asian flavors,(and so does cilantro), so I may go in that direction for one of my salads this week.  Here are the two versions I will most probably make

Salad

green and red cabbage

fuyu persommon

cilantro

Dressing #1

lemon/apple cider vinegar

honey

mayo/plain yogurt mix

(bonus garlic and curry powder)

Dressing #2

lemon

rice wine vinegar

honey

mayo/plain yogurt mix

drizzle of roasted sesame oil and/or toasted sesame seeds

Of course I could go on and on with more ideas...for instance if you did want to make it more Asian inspired you could add some noodles along with chicken or shredded pork.  Chopped peanuts instead of sesame, bean sprouts, scallions (green onion), jalapeno ( a personal favorite!), carrot (I didn't have one!), etc.

Dried fruits like raisins and/or dates, is always delicious, but when fresh firm fruit is available I would choose, grapes, apple or in this case persimmon.

I've got some of that leftover roasted chicken that I need to eat by Friday so I'll toss some of that in for my protein.  Salad for a week....done!

PS

I love my cabbage salads and I think that the name "coleslaw" has given them a bad rap!  I wrote about this back in 2007 http://tracyrif.blogspot.com/2007/12/coleslawi-mean-cabbage-salad.html, and have posted many recipes and variations of this versatile salad on both of my blogs (and my book, of course!).....maybe even this one before!