This Australian coleslaw is a bit unusual from what we are used to in America but great for the hostess who thinks “outside the box.” The original version had hot peppers in it, but I don’t do spicy, so I left them out.
Australian Coleslaw
Ingredients
- 1 cabbage, shredded
- 3 carrots, grated
- 3 onions
- 4 stalks of celery
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
Instructions
- In a deep bowl, toss together the cabbage and carrots.
- Dice all the remaining vegetables.
- Mix into the bowl with the cabbage and carrots.
- Sprinkle the sugar over the vegetables.
- In a medium-sized pot, bring the oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and celery seed to a boil.
- Pour over the vegetable mixture while hot and do not stir!
- Let cool and then cover and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
- Pour off the excess liquid before serving.
What is the difference between red wine vinegar and white wine vinegar?
Although red wine has a bolder flavor than white wine, the opposite is true when these beverages are further fermented into vinegar. According to Difference.guru, red wine vinegar has “more subtle flavors and comes in more varieties” than white wine vinegar. Perhaps, that’s why this recipe called for it originally. A bolder vinegar would not have gone well with a Jalapeno.
However, since my version of the recipe got rid of the spice, I suspect you could easily use white wine vinegar and get good results.
What’s so Australian about this coleslaw?
This question was foremost in my mind when I started working with it and you know what? I could not find an answer. For all I know, someone just thought it would be cool to call it Australian and it caught on from there.
A note about Australian cuisine
Australian cuisine is a hodgepodge, at least these days, of Aboriginal fare, colonial cuisine, and foreign influences. Given the environment, Australia has put its own vibe and stamp on all these influences, of course. Where else will you find kangaroo meat in the grocery store?
I’ve already provided one hint at how you can get creative with this recipe — switch out the vinegar. You can also play around with the cabbage, as I suggested in a previous coleslaw recipe.
You can also experiment with the oil. Try different grades of olive oil, or even go for a different oil such as avocado oil or sesame seed oil. Also, feel free to leave out the sugar or substitute with a light drizzle of honey.
