Date, Feta and Red Cabbage Salad

A salad for all seasons and all occasions. A salad that, in all honesty, doesn’t even taste like a salad. It’s crunchy, crisp, sweet, salty, zingy and spicy all in one. It's a standalone lunchtime delight, or a great accompaniment to any roast cuts of meat, or as part of a medley of Ottolenghi inspired dishes like his roasted sweet potato, lime and lemongrass crème fraiche dish. Whilst red cabbages are best in the winter months, you can get hold of them all year round, the key is to buy a crisp one, and slice it as finely as you can.

We served ours with the Detox kitchen beetroot falafals, which in our opinion is the best recipe around, alongside a tahini dressing and some baby spinach. 

Date, Feta and Red Cabbage Salad 

Serves: 3-4 people

Prep time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

Salad:

40g almonds, skin on

1 small red cabbage, sliced very finely

½ block of feta

Handful of pomegranates (optional) 

Dressing:

1 lime, freshly squeezed

4 tbsp olive oil 

½ tsp Alleopo chilli flakes, or regular chilli flakes

5 medjool stoned dates, chopped small

Big handful of parsley, finely chopped

METHOD

1. Start by toasting the almonds in a pan on a medium heat for 3 minutes, until they start to smell delicious, it doesn’t matter if a few of them catch. Remove from the heat and leave to cool 
2. Whisk the ingredients of the dressing together, leaving some parsley for garnishing at the end and leave to one side
3. Finely slice the almonds and crumble the feta, leave to one side
4. Finely slice the red cabbage and place in a mixing bowl with half the almonds, and half the feta. Pour the dressing over and mix together with two spoons
5. Dress the salad and garnish with the remaining feta, almonds, parsley and pomegranates if you have them