Politiki Salata is a traditional salad brought to us by the Greeks of Constantinople, which is modern day Istanbul. It is made with both green and purple cabbage, shredded carrots, celery, spring onions, fresh parsley, and roasted red peppers. It is tangy and bright, and among Greeks, considered a winter salad. In essence it is a type of slaw, and can easily accompany any grilled meat or fish.
With the population exchange between Greece and Turkey that occurred in the 1920’s after the genocide of the indigenous Greek population of Turkey, this salad, as well as much of the cuisine and musical culture of the Greeks of Asia Minor were brought over. So making a dish like this honors those people.
This is a traditional recipe, that suggests a double marinade of your cabbage, first in lemon water and finally in its salad dressing. If you are in a hurry, you can skip the first marinade, however it does add a lovely brightness to the final result.
(If you are strictly keto, you can omit the carrots to avoid the carbs.)
Ingredients:
1/2 head of green cabbage (shredded or chopped)
1/2 head purple cabbage (shredded or chopped)
1-2 carrots (shredded)
2 celery stalks (chopped)
1/2 a bunch of parsley (finely chopped)
5-6 spring onoions (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (grated)
1 roasted red pepper (cut into pieces)
1/2 cup extra virgin Greek olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp apple cider vinger or white or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Start by chopping or shredding your cabbage and carrot. As mentioned above, I chose to do the inital marinade of soaking the now shredded cabbage and carrot in a bowl of water and lemon juice. The acidity softens the cabbage, plumps it up and brigtens the flavor. I left it in there for about a hour while I chopped everthing else, and also prepared the chicken breast that I was going to serve this with.
Drain the cabbage and carrots in a collander and place in a salad bowl. Add the spring onoions, parsley, celery, and roasted red pepper. Toss well.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and grated garlic. Pour it over your salad.
Like any slaw or cabbage salad this will keep and actually improve in the refrigerator and can be eaten for the next couple of days.
Kali Oreksi!
on xenia street 