Dried Mint Shredded Cabbage Salad

This dried mint shredded cabbage salad is made with dried mint, tomatoes, shredded cabbage, spicy pepper, and a homemade lemon garlic vinaigrette. It's so simple and delicious, you are going to love it! Any time I make mujadara, I make this salad to go along with it.

What I Love About This Cabbage Salad

Thank you Aunt Maguy! This dried mint and lemon shredded cabbage salad is a more elaborate shredded cabbage salad that I grew up with. I really enjoy making simple recipes, and this is one of them. The spicy, tangy, garlicky flavors all come together with the fresh and crisp cabbage. I recommend this salad for garlic butter steelhead trout, mujadara, or crispy roasted chicken thighs and potatoes.

Ingredient Notes

• White Cabbage: I use round white cabbage for this recipe. It's possible to use purple cabbage as well, or a mix of white and purple cabbage. Also, shredded coleslaw salad bags are suitable to use for this recipe.
• Dried mint: Fresh mint cannot be substituted.
• Spicy pepper: Use jalapeno, serrano, or another fresh spicy pepper.
• Fresh Garlic: I use fresh garlic cloves for this recipe. Because the garlic is going in the salad dressing, the garlic needs to be mashed with salt using a mortar and pestle. Another option for preparing the garlic is to use a garlic press. My personal preference is to mash the garlic as finely as possible. Otherwise, you will get little bits and pieces of garlic chunks in your salad which is not desirable, unless you are like my father who pops garlic cloves like M&Ms.
• Tomatoes: Use Roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes, tomato on the vine, or heirloom tomatoes.
• Fresh Lemon Juice: I prefer to squeeze the lemons fresh. Lime juice is not a great substitute for this salad dressing. I don't like using any sort of lemon or lime juice from a pre-packaged bottle because it tastes different.
• Olive Oil: Use high-quality extra virgin olive oil.

How To Make Shredded Cabbage Salad

Cut the cabbage head in half and remove the stem. Place the flat side down on the cutting board. Start chopping very fine sections from one side to the other. Here's a very simple video explaining how to shred the cabbage. Alternatively, you can buy pre-shredded cabbage or use an automated shredder.

Wash and cut the tomatoes. Cut the spicy pepper. Add the shredded cabbage, chopped tomatoes, and spicy pepper to a bowl. Add dried mint on top.

Mash the garlic with salt using a mortar and pestle. Squeeze the lemon. In a bowl, add the lemon juice, mashed garlic, and vinegar. Mix the lemon vinaigrette dressing together prior to pouring over the salad. Mix the salad so that it's evenly coated.

Tips and Tricks

• Make the salad dressing independent from the cabbage. Once the salad dressing is finished, mix it with the shredded cabbage. This ensures that the mashed garlic gets evenly distributed.
• Don't shred the cabbage too finely. Very fine shredded cabbage doesn't have the right texture for this salad. The finest I would shred the cabbage is what you might do for coleslaw.
• Don't shred the cabbage too thickly.
• Use fresh lemon juice. Because we are making the salad dressing from scratch, it's really important to use fresh ingredients. This salad dressing is only made of mashed garlic, salt, lemon juice, and olive oil, so it's very easy to make. I keep fresh lemons on hand always.
• Use fresh garlic. I do not recommend using jarred minced garlic for this recipe, because the garlic needs to be mashed extremely finely. I prefer how fresh garlic tastes, but I grew up eating fresh garlic a lot.

Variations and Substitutions

• Omit spicy pepper if desired.
• Use any type of tomato such as grape tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, tomato on the vine, or heirloom tomatoes.
• Substitute more vinegar in lieu of lemon juice or vice versa.

Storage

Store the shredded cabbage salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If making ahead, keep the salad dressing separate until ready to serve.

Equipment

• Chef's knife and cutting board
• Mortar and pestle to mash the garlic
• Lemon squeezer to juice the lemon

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