It was summer 2015. Lockport New York. A quaint suburban city just 20 miles east from Niagara Falls. New York had now been my home for the past 12 months. And I loved it, especially this area . There were historic districts, the beautiful Erie Canal, stretches of empty farmland and luscious green trees.
One of the more difficult aspects of being away from home (especially in a place where it was predominantly white and almost no asians) was adapting to the food, the accent and the culture. I had always prided myself with good English and wide exposure to different cultures through my travels, but coming here I realized maybe I wasn’t as prepared as I thought. I struggled to understand the heavy New York accent, I couldn’t laugh at their jokes and I wasn’t accustomed to the food. Growing up, I had never had cornbread with chili; pot roast with potatoes and rolls for dinner; white chicken chili or coleslaw and chicken with potato salad. These are things I had only heard about or seen in American TV shows but I was finally experiencing it in real life.
The summer rays were burning my arms. You could see an ugly tan line running along my forearm and my ankles (where I wore my flats). I walking into the chapel, the cool air blasting relieving me from the summer heat. I heard giggles and laughter. A few kids ran past me almost toppling me over. Turning around the corner to the hallway that led to the main auditorium, I saw many familiar faces hurrying around, while others were in lighthearted conversations.
I walked into the kitchen. There were several woman, dressed in aprons, working hard in the kitchen trying to make buckets of food enough to feed the crowd they were expecting today. I smiled. It was a wonderful community to be amongst. A lady walked out of the kitchen and handed a styrofoam box to me. I opened the box – potatoes, barbequed chicken and coleslaw. It looked good, but definitely looked unfamiliar. Is this what Americans eat on a holiday? I wondered. I remember tasting it, surprised at the tanginess of the coleslaw, .
That was my first experience of July 4th meal.
I had never been a fan of mayo so I often skip out on mayo drenched salads – potato salads, macaroni salads and coleslaw. Zoe thought it would be a wonderful idea to develop our very own coleslaw recipe – something that I had eaten only a handful of times. It is always difficult to make something you haven’t really tasted before, but thanks to my fiance and her husband we were able to nail this down: A MAYO FREE coleslaw that is healthy, low calorie and creamy.
If I had to describe what it tastes like I would say tangy and sweet, crunchy and fresh. Its a lighter version than the coleslaw I had back then, which is perfect for me. It goes beautifully well on tacos, with barbecued meats and on burgers. The colors are also absolutely stunning. I love using a mix of red and green cabbage to contrast the deep orange of the carrots. We had this about 3 nights in a row just so I could perfect this recipe and we had no problem eating this at all!
- 4 cups (280g) shredded cabbage (I used a mix of green and red)**
- ½ carrot, grated (35g)
- 1 tsp Himalayan Sea Salt OR Coarse sea salt (you cannot use regular salt)
- Dressing:
- ⅓ cup non-dairy plain yogurt
- 2 tbsp of swerve or splenda (or your choice of granulated sugar)
- ½ tsp dijon mustard
- ¾ tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Add in pink salt over the shredded cabbage. Massage it in and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing together.
- Once 30 minutes is up, rinse the cabbage thoroughly in water (I like use a sieve to make this easier). Using your hands, take a handful of cabbage at a time and squeeze all the excess water out. Set aside in a clean bowl.
- Combine the squeezed cabbage, dressing and grated carrots. Taste and adjust.
- Toss and put in fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
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