Surówka
(pronounced su-roof-ka)
Okay so there is no hard and fast recipe to this, you just learn to use what you have got and vary it according to mood. My favourite variation follows, its great for colour to brighten up a dark wintery day and tastes delicious and very moreish.
Ingredients
1/2 red cabbage
3-4 carrots
1 small celeriac
handful (total) of seeds/nuts eg sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, cashew nuts
fresh parsley (if you have some)
For dressing:
a lemon
olive oil
honey
grainy mustard
salt and pepper
Method
Finely slice the red cabbage (i don’t recommend using a food processor as it shreds the cabbage too fine) and peel and then julienne/grate the carrots and celeriac (food processor comes in handy here!). Mix all together in a large bowl.
Make up a dressing to your taste, lemon juice is particularly good here but otherwise its variable. I do 1/3 lemon juice to 2/3 oil (total half filling a small jar), a 1/2 tsp each of honey and mustard and then season it.
Toast the seeds/nuts in a small frying pan until they are lightly browned and make popping sounds. Do watch these as the cook, if you try and do something else you risk forgetting and letting them burn – believe me as one who has tried!
Now just throw it all together – toss the dressing in, stir in some roughly chopped parsley and sprinkle with the toasted seeds.
This salad can last a couple days – i find its really nice to take for lunch alongside a sandwich. I would say if you don’t polish it off in your first sitting then enjoy it in the next day or so while its still fresh and crisp.
i need a copy of this recipe to add to a friend’s wedding present which i’m still making (wedding was back in june. oh well.) the present is a book of my favorite recipes – and this one makes the cut for sure. thanks.
Hey martha, since you introduced me to the whole concept of surowka, with your custom toasted seeds, you are very welcome to the recipe. All I did was write it down… I don’t know why I didn’t credit you in the first place! Actually I’ve just started making this recently, now that we are receiving cabbages in our veg box again. Bizarrely, I seem to enjoy the winter season more than the summer!
I made this for a Polish Potluck with my bookclub. I used red cabbage, celeriac, carrots and green apple. I also used toasted almond slivers, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. I put in extra nuts/seeds. It is quite good! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Next time hopefully I will have some parsley on hand to throw in.
P.S. the dressing is delicious… it will go into my rotation of home made vinaigrettes.
Thanks Rachel, belatedly, for your comments. Apple is a great addition to the salad – I only don’t include it because I’m allergic to raw apples!