A simple coleslaw, but better

I've always enjoyed the idea of coleslaw. Shredded cabbage with a light vinaigrette--simple, tasty and refreshing. But the toils of preparing it had always seemed too daunting to be worth the effort. Or, when I tried, the results were so bad I just gave up, like when I tried shredding cabbage by stuffing cabbage chunks into our food processor using the slicing disc attachment. Aside from all the work it took (i.e. prep, process, empty, clean), I would get unevenly shredded cabbage with big chunky pieces that I basically had to throw away. What's more, the dressing recipes I always seemed to try were too complex or overpowering to make a good coleslaw.

Me learning to make coleslaw

It turns out that I was trying too hard to make something extravagant out of something that wants to be plain and simple. This occurred to me during our trip to Serbia and Croatia this past summer, where my mother-in-law taught me an easier easier way to shred cabbage and prepare coleslaw. The technique is quite straightforward:

1. Take a head of cabbage and peel off the top few layers of cabbage leaves, which effectively act as nature's packaging for the cabbage head. Rinse the cabbage head if you wish.
2. Using a medium-sized utility knife (6" or so) cut the head of cabbage in half cutting from the top of the cabbage down to the root (i.e. lengthwise and not widthwise).
3. Here's where it gets a bit awkward. You want to find a comfortable way to hold or brace the cabbage using your non-dominant hand so that you can use your dominant hand to shred the layers of cabbage over top a bowl. You can either stand and do this with a bowl on the counter, which takes a bit of work. Or, an easier way to do it is to sit in a chair with a bowl in your lap.
4. To shred the cabbage you simply shave off layers of the cabbage at your desired thickness from the top of the cabbage down the sides, gradually moving inward and down the cabbage, while generally avoiding the tough root part.

Now for the dressing I was taught to use a light splash of vegetable oil, a generous amount of vinegar to taste, and salt and pepper to taste (sorry, I don't have any specific measures, you really just have to do this according to your own taste). I've found that using light rice wine vinegar (like Marukan's) in place of white vinegar creates a smoother and also sweeter flavour. I also use a spray can of oil to keep the oil to a minimum. A few shorts sprays is more than enough. I recommend adding salt last because the salt in the rice wine vinegar will lessen the amount you need to add afterwards.