Tuesday, November 19, 2002

chow down: HAUTE SLAW

I’m feeling like another trip to the Recipe Corner:
We had a feast a few nights ago with carnitas and plantain soup and those tasty lime yams, baked apple raspberry cobbler for dessert… but there was one totally improvisational dish on the board that turned out so damn well that I had to give it its own special place here in the hut.  With the hot, rich porky goodness of carnitas seared in olive oil and baked ten hours in a slow oven, and the creamy sweetness of steaming yams with a surprising tang that keeps ya coming back, we needed a cool, tart counterpoint.  Enter Chuckles, and his brand new

HAUTE SLAW

- because cole slaw is so gauche… Getcherself 1/4 cup of rice vinegar and 1/4 cup of Jinro Soju (48 proof!), and mix them with the juice of about 1 lime (I use bottled key lime juice cuz I’m just that cool).  Add in 1 tablespoon soy sauce.  Stir in about 1/4 teaspoon each of cayenne, celery seed, and ground ginger, and about 3 teaspoons of my favorite granulated white sugar.  Taste it - should be tart and pretty spicy.  Now, shred a small beautiful napa cabbage (discard outer leaves when they are mainly stalky), and julienne a medium carrot, half a medium jicama, and half a green papaya.  Mix well, let sit for an hour stirring occasionally.  Consume joyfully. 

(Julienning: get a mandoline slicer for your kitchen.  It’s the only way to go.)