Atkins Recipe Challenge: Cabbage

Cabbage may not be the most exciting of vegetables – but with 3.3 net carbs per 100 grams and 2.5 grams fiber cabbage is definitely a low-carb eater’s friend. Cabbage has been eaten since ancient times and in many different cultures throughout the world. Some of those cultures praised cabbage for its medicinal properties – such as the Romans and Egyptians advising to start a meal with raw cabbage to prevent hangovers – whereas in other times, the cabbage was classified as “commoner” food and blamed for the “ability to produce ‘wind’”. See more interesting history of the cabbage here in this article from Vegetarians in Paradise.

One of the participants at the Atkins forums, Bonnie, has been kind enough to select an Atkins friendly ingredient each week. Everybody is asked to either try that veggie or submit a tried and true recipe that week. This week, Bonnie chose cabbage. The goal of the thread is to encourage sharing – recipes, cooking tips or methods, reviews of recipes tried, etc… So, I decided to take the challenge and create a new recipe I have not tried before and review it here. So, what do you do with cabbage?

Cabbage Salad with Lemon (Lahanosalata)

One of my coworkers describes a cabbage salad that her husband often makes for her. She gave me the basics of how to make it – cabbage, thinly sliced; lemon juice; oil; and salt. In researching this, I found many similar recipes. Some with just the basic ingredients she listed – others added garlic, onion, feta, carrots, etc… She said those all sound like good add-ins, but it would make it a different salad. She so loves the salad her husband makes that I decided to make it the way he described:

 

Ingredients

• 250 g cabbage – thinly sliced ribbons
• 10 g salt
• 1 T oil
• Juice of 1 lemon (about ¼ cup)

Method

I sliced about half a cabbage into thin ribbons. Then sprinkled the 15 g of salt over the cabbage and let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour. This will release some of the cabbage’s moisture and the cabbage will appear slightly reduced and “wet”.

 

Toss the cabbage with 1 T oil and then, toss with the lemon juice.

Makes 6 servings – approximately 50g (1 ¾ ounce) servings of salad. 

Review

This is a very lemony salad. The little sous chef didn’t care for it at all – I have a feeling it was just too tart for his young taste buds. The older sous chef gave it a much more glowing review – he said he would eat it again. For a 13 year old, I think that’s pretty glowing. As for me? I can see why my coworker raves about this salad. It is so quick and easy to make – but with a light, refreshing taste that would be great with a variety of proteins. Definitely a tasty summer salad that I will be making again.

Nutrition

Each serving has:

• 32.8 calories
• 3.3 g carbohydrate
• 1.1 g fiber
• 2.2 net carbs
• 0.6 g protein
• 2.3 g fat

This salad is a good source of Vitamin C (33% DV) and Vitamin K (41% DV).