Last week I wanted to do a millioooon things because my sister and her boyfriend came to visit. They spent 10 whole days here with us and time FLEW. I cannot believe how fast those 10 days went by and how little I have accomplished. Ugh! The good thing is, the most important things I wished for all happened. I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Check! I wanted my kids to spend every waking second out of school with them. Check! I wanted to go out with them leaving the kids with my husband. Check! I wanted to go out with my husband leaving the kids with them. Triple Check!!! I wanted to do two movement food shots for the blog. Half Check. Ugh! I asked my sister to squeeze the lime into the Pinto Bean Taco with Salsa Verde so I could photograph how the juice dripped into them and what happened? The limes had NO juice. Like absolutely NONE! I cut open two limes and they were both drier than dry. So that was kind of a bummer. The second shot – powdered sugar on homemade nutella filled crepes – didn’t turn out at all. I had forgotten to buy fresh berries and thought using frozen defrosted ones would make the trick but sadly…no…the powdered sugar falling looks amazing but the mushy berries look so yucky I will have to reshoot everything. I wouldn’t dare leaving the recipe out of the blog completely because we did enjoy eating them up and then scraping the plate to get the last bits of nutella. YUM! I just wish I had my sisters beautifully manicured hands for that. She has gorgeous hands and her nails are always done as opposed to my mom cook hands. For the shots of this Cabbage Carrot Salad with Cilantro Lime Mayonnaise her hands would have come in handy, too but she was long gone. Buhuu! Good thing I focused on the Cilantro Lime Mayonnaise and my chewed fingernails are sort of blurry. Phew! Wait, did I just manage to disguise the fact that I bite my fingernails in this picture but then told you that I do bite them?!
Does anybody want to work as my hand model? I can’t pay you, but you can babysit my children for free in exchange ;P
Now let’s focus less on the hands and more on the food itself. Homemade mayonnaise tastes a.w.e.s.o.m.e. I remember my husband saying he didn’t like mayonnaise when we first met. I proved him wrong within the first week by making him some at home. He couldn’t believe how different and much better homemade mayonnaises tasted. There is a world of a difference. A WORLD! The best part is, it takes about a minutes if at all to make it and you can add pretty much any taste that comes to your mind to it. In this case I opted for lime and cilantro.
Considering barbecue season is around the corner and many barbecues end up being potlucks I wanted to create a fancier salad than the ones one is used to see in a potluck. I mean imagine telling your friends you brought a “green salad”, uhu, great, thank you. And now imagine telling them you brought “Cabbage Carrot Salad with Cilantro Lime Mayonnaise”, huou, fancy, awesome! This salad goes super well with grilled goodies and tastes fresh and summery and stays crunchy for hours, not like leafy salads that turn all mushy the minute you mix them with dressing. I love this salad as side for barbecues.
If you want your bowl to look neat and clean and beautiful with the already mixed salad I recommend mixing everything together in another bowl and to then transfer it into your pretty bowl. Looks more presentable of course. Remember, the eyes eat, too!
Cabbage Carrot Salad with Cilantro Lime Mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 800 g cabbage
- 800 g carrots
- 2 cups cilantro leaves
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 Tbsp mustard
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp Salt
- Pepper
- avocado oil (or other flavor-less oil)
Instructions
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Cut cabbage into very thing stripes. If you have a mandolin, use it!
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Peel and shred carrots. If you have a processor with shredder, use it!
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Wash and destalk cilantro and then chop one cup to use for the salad and leave one cup of leaves whole.
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For the mayonnaise you will need a blender. Add egg, mustard, lime, salt and pepper to blender and then use the lid without the middle part to cover. Start the blender on low so the ingredients don't spray out. Blend the ingredients together for maybe 10 seconds, then slowly pour in oil. It is important to ALWAYS do this slowly, from start to finish, never more than a spaghetti thick string of oil AND, it has to be constant. Don't stop pouring until the mayonnaise is ready. If you pour in more than a thin string you risk the mayonnaise to curdle. If this happens you will have to start all over, so be patient and maintain a steady hand. Once the blender can't continue blending because the mayonnaise has become too thick, stop the oil pouring, your mayonnaise is ready.
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Spoon out about 4/5th of the mayonnaise and place in a bowl and add the cup of whole cilantro leaves into the blender. Cover and blend until all incorporated and creamy. You may have to scrape down the sides once or twice. If so, remember to first not only turn off but also disconnect the blender to avoid accidents.
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Then mix the cilantro cream with the spooned out mayonnaise and season if necessary. Remember the mayonnaise has to be salty because it will serve as season for the salad.
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Mix salad and mayonnaise and season with salt, pepper and more lime juice to your liking.
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