My red cabbage salad with creamy tahini dressing is low in fat, easy to make and gets even more delicious after a couple of hours in the fridge. Red cabbage is such a wonderful and powerful vegetable. Although all the cabbages are great, I just love this purple one the most, especially raw. So today’s lunch is a red cabbage salad with creamy tahini dressing. The coloring agents that create this gorgeous cabbage make it a disease-fighting force. I just LOVE how Mother Nature got it all covered. All we have to do is just to enjoy a plant based diet made up of a big variety of foods, color and textures.
Complete recipe below this post.
The nutritional benefits in a row, besides the taste and crunchiness are,
- It boosts the Immune System, rich in vitamin C, a crucial antioxidant which stimulates the activity of white blood cells, forming the first line of defense for the immune system.
- Fights Inflammation and Arthritis, rich in inflammation-fighting phytonutrients. Inflammation causes swelling and pain in the joints, such as arthritis, adding anthocyanin-rich fruits and vegetables like red cabbage is a great natural way to heal and prevent.
Other anthocyanin-rich foods, a class of pigment that occurs in plants that give this gorgeous vibrant purple, red or blue color are,
red lettuce, blueberries, pansies, purple sweet potato flesh and skin and Maori potatoes, purple ( blue) corn, eggplant, blackberries, sweet cherries, cranberries, elderberries, concord grapes, red radishes, pink grapefruit and pomegranates. These foods have a huge number of health benefits, they are all delicious but also heart disease, inflammation, bacterial infections, age-related disease, diabetes and even cancer fighting. Also great to treat urinary problems, kidney stones, liver disorders, high blood pressure, colds, the flu, and diarrhea.
- Aids Healthy Bones and Reduces the Risk of Osteoporosis, rich in vitamin K, a vitamin that increases the amount of a specific protein required to maintain bone calcium, there for it reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
- Combats Chronic Diseases like Alzheimer’s, ALS, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease are characterized by quick deterioration of nerve cells and even cell death. Studies have shown that specific antioxidants found in the anthocyanins of the red cabbage may prevent or reverse these effects. Also cancer fighting.
- Promotes a Healthy Gut, kimchi and sauerkraut made of red cabbage seems to b even more health promoting than the usual kind. There are lots of benefits for adding fermented foods to the daily diet. This natural probiotic aids in helping reducing cholesterol, works anti-aging, brain health promoting, immune enhancing, improves skin health and also can be cancer-fighting.According to Anthony Williams from the Medical Medium book the combination apples and red cabbage eaten in one meal can be very effective to expel bacteria, worms, parasites, viruses from the liver and intestinal tract.
I also added shredded apple to this salad after reading this!
I shredded these ingredients with my mandoline, it can also be grated real fine.
The dressing is totally creamy yet low fat. I love using raw tahini as added fat in my dressings. Sesame seeds are rich in calcium.
Look at this creaminess! Sweetened with dates, tangy-ness from sun dried tomatoes, sour from lemon juice and fat from the raw tahini. Also great as a dip or even as a dressing if you add more water.
I served it with some crunchy baby romaine leaves and fresh radishes. The leaves work excellent as a scoop! Or enjoy it with a slice of my Gluten Free Multigrain Bread.
You could also add some red onion, I am not that keen on raw onion so I didn’t do that. I did add some grated apple. Fruit can be mixed with veggies as long as the amounts are small, not half fruit and half salad with dressing. I just used one apple for the taste and the nutrient boost and that was fine.
For more salads with a delicious dressing inspiration click on my Spicy Soba Noodle Salad or my Rainbow Salad with a Miso Dressing.
Let me know how it turned out if you gave it a go!
Tina x
ps. if you would like to save this recipe you can pin the picture below to your Pinterest board or print the recipe below,
Red Cabbage Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/2 small red cabbage, shaved or grated
- 2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly
- 2 medium carrots, grated or julienned
- 1 apple, julienned
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced fine
- 1/3 cup fresh herbs, chopped fine, I used dill
Creamy Tahini Dressing
- 5 oil free sun dried tomatoes, chopped fine after soaking in water
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup soaking water from the tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- 2 to 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 soft medjool dates, pitted
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika optional
- sea salt to taste
- 1 tsp dulse flakes adds saltiness and iodine
Instructions
- Mix all the grated, chopped vegetables in a big bowl.
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a small blender and blend into a creamy sauce. Season more if needed with salt and black pepper.
