Cabbage and Cucumber Salads - General Cooking Principles
A light, refreshing, juicy cabbage salad with cucumber should try to cook each hostess. The fair sex is especially fond of this dish because of its low calorie content, a lot of useful vitamins and substances, and an extraordinary bright taste. Such a salad is good to cook and eat in the hot summer time, but in the winter the dish is also irreplaceable - vitamins contained in vegetables increase immunity and strengthen health.
Another indisputable advantage of cabbage salad with cucumber is the low cost and availability of products. Especially lucky for those who have a cottage - just go out to the garden in the summer and collect fresh young cucumbers, cabbage and any fresh greens. For the preparation of cabbage salad with cucumber, a wide variety of cabbage varieties are used: regular white cabbage, Beijing, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc. Cucumbers are taken only fresh, otherwise you get a completely different dish. Vegetable should not be sluggish, too large, with a high content of seeds or with a thick skin. It is better to choose young cucumbers of medium size, fresh and crispy.
Cabbage and cucumbers are perfectly combined with all sorts of fresh herbs: parsley, dill, lettuce, basil, green onions, coriander, etc. Cabbage salad with cucumber can be supplemented with cheese, eggs or other vegetables (for example, tomatoes, radishes or peppers). Some cooks prefer to cook a more substantial, meaty version of the dish (with the addition of turkey meat or chicken, with lean ham, etc.).
The basic principle of cooking cabbage salad with cucumber is cutting vegetables in a specific shape, combining all the ingredients and dressing with oil or sauce. For dressing cabbage salad with cucumber, you can use any vegetable oil (olive, sunflower, sesame and others), lemon juice, low-fat sour cream or yogurt, mayonnaise. Vegetable oil is preferable among those who adhere to a special diet.
Cabbage and cucumber salads - preparation of products and dishes
Cabbage salad with cucumber is best prepared in a deep bowl, which is convenient to mix all the ingredients with the dressing. Fresh vegetables should be thoroughly washed, dried and cut in accordance with the recipe. Usually for this dish to heat the vegetables do not need. Cucumber is desirable to peel, but some lower this moment.
Other ingredients for the salad should be boiled (for example, eggs or chicken), let them cool and chop accordingly. At this preliminary preparation of products, as a rule, ends.
Recipes cabbage salad with cucumber:
Recipe 1: Coleslaw with Cucumber
Due to the low calorie content, the salad can be consumed in unlimited quantities. The dish will give you a fresh summer taste and a great mood for the whole day.
Ingredients Required:
- Cabbage - half a small fork;
- 2-3 fresh cucumbers;
- Parsley and dill;
- Garlic clove;
- Salt, black pepper - to taste;
- Any vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l
Cooking method:
Wash vegetables thoroughly. Cabbage thinly chop, cucumbers cut into strips. Wash and chop greens. Garlic very finely chopped. Before you combine all the ingredients, a little salted cabbage and mash your hands (to give juice). After that, put all the ingredients in a deep salad bowl, pepper and fill with any vegetable oil (sunflower, olive or corn).
Recipe 2: Cabbage Salad with Cucumber and Eggs
Another kind of fresh vegetable salad. The dish turns out quite nourishing due to the eggs that make up it.
Ingredients Required:
- 2 eggs;
- 2 cucumbers;
- Beijing cabbage - 1 small head;
- Parsley;
- Low fat mayonnaise;
- 1 onion;
- Vinegar, salt, pepper.
Cooking method:
Cabbage and cucumbers should be washed well and cut into thin strips. Cut onion into thin half rings and place in wine vinegar for pickling, leave to marinate for half an hour. Greens should be washed, finely chopped. Boil eggs, cool, cut into small cubes. All components combine in a deep salad bowl, mix thoroughly. Ready cabbage salad with cucumber to fill with low-fat mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
Recipe 3: Cabbage Salad with Cucumber and Ham
This "meat" version of the salad will especially appeal to men. The dish is not only healthy, but also very tasty and satisfying.
Ingredients Required:
- Young white cabbage - 350 g;
- Chicken Ham - 300 g;
- 2 fresh cucumbers;
- Crackers with garlic flavor;
- Mayonnaise (preferably lemon);
- Dill, black ground pepper, sea salt.
Cooking method:
Wash cabbage leaves, chop into thin strips. Peel cucumbers, cut into strips. Cut ham into small pieces. Dill finely chopped. All the ingredients put in a salad bowl, pepper, salt and season with mayonnaise. Just before serving, add croutons to the plate. You don’t need to do this before - the croutons will soften and become tasteless. Ready cabbage salad with cucumber can be decorated with sliced in half olives.
Recipe 4: Cabbage Salad with Cucumber and Bell Peppers
This wonderful vitamin salad is easy to prepare and can be stored in the refrigerator for several days.
Ingredients Required:
- White cabbage - 1 kg;
- 1 large bell pepper (orange);
- 3 fresh cucumbers;
- 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp. l Sahara;
- 2 tbsp. l vinegar, 3-4 tbsp. l vegetable oil;
- Dill.
Cooking method:
Middle-sized cabbage shred, put in a deep dish, salt, add sugar and vinegar. Dill finely chopped, put to the cabbage. Cabbage with dill mix, mash a little hands. Cucumbers and Bulgarian pepper cut into thin strips, add to cabbage. Ready salad dressing with vegetable oil and mix.
Recipe 5: Cabbage salad with cucumber and crab sticks
Very tender and deliciously delicious salad. The dish is prepared quickly and easily. Great snack for every day or for a holiday.
Ingredients Required:
- Packing crab sticks - 200 g;
- 2 eggs;
- Fresh cabbage - 300 g;
- Half a can of canned corn;
- 1 large fresh cucumber;
- Mayonnaise.
Cooking method:
Crab sticks cut into cubes, hard boiled eggs, cool and also chop. Cabbage nashinkovat thin straws. With corn, how to drain the water. Cucumber peel off, cut into cubes. All ingredients are mixed in a salad bowl, season with mayonnaise. The finished dish can be decorated on request with any fresh greens. Salt and pepper to taste.
Cabbage and cucumber salads - secrets and tips from the best chefs
There are several secrets and subtleties, given which, you can make a really delicious cabbage salad with cucumber. If young cabbage is taken to prepare the dish, after cutting it is recommended to wrinkle it with salt - so it will give some juice, and the salad will become more tasty. If the cabbage is not very young, it can be scalded with boiling water and immediately placed in cold water. In general, the longer the salad is infused, the tastier and juicier it will be (salt should have time to soak all the ingredients). However, in this case, the appearance of the dish is slightly spoiled.
Cucumber must be felt in the salad, so cooks do not recommend grating it on a grater. It is best to cut it by hand or using a food processor. Before cutting it is important to taste it, as it can get bitter and spoil the whole dish. If, however, the cucumber is slightly bitter, and the salad is already sliced, you can add a little lemon juice and cranberries. Acid slightly "brighten" bitterness.
When choosing cabbage, you need to pay attention to its appearance. If brown spots were found on the leaves, it is better to refuse to purchase such a vegetable. If the cabbage forks weigh a little more than it seems, such an instance is fine. It should also be borne in mind that later varieties are considered the most delicious and most suitable for fresh consumption. It is also believed that in late cabbage varieties there is the least amount of nitrates and other accumulated harmful substances.
