End-of-Summer Pickled Cabbage Salad

I’ve made various salads with Napa (or Chinese) cabbage before, and I’ve pickled it with carrots and radishes into a kind of Korean kimchi. Over the weekend, I was looking for something that was somewhere in between—a tangy salad, but not quite as tangy as kimchi. I also wanted to eat it the same day as I made it, rather than burying it in the backyard (or, these days, the refrigerator) for a few weeks, as you need to do with kimchi.

I searched for pickled cabbage online and found some recipes for sauerkraut and pickled red cabbage, and I also found various recipes for cabbage salad. I took a little from one recipe, a little from another, and came up with this tasty version, with oranges, golds, and reds mixed in with the green cabbage—a perfect color combination for the beginning of September.

Pickled Cabbage Salad

1 head Napa (Chinese) cabbage

2-3 small carrots (gold or orange varieties)

1 red sweet pepper

1 purple onion

1 small piece of ginger, about 1 inch to 1½ inch

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

2/3 cup cider vinegar

3-4 tablespoons honey or agave

Wash and separate the leaves of cabbage; cut them into strips long ways, then cut the strips into about 2” pieces. Peel the carrots and cut into matchstick size pieces;  seed the red pepper and dice it into small pieces; peel and slice the purple onion thin and chop into bite-sized pieces. Put all the vegetables in a large container with a lid, then sprinkle with celery seed. Peel the ginger and slice very thin; cut the slices into strips. Heat the vinegar and honey or agave in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, and add the salt and ginger pieces. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down for about 5 to 10 minutes. Pour it over the vegetables, sprinkle with black pepper, put the lid on, and toss until all the pieces are coated with the dressing. Refrigerate at least four hours (overnight is okay, too) before serving.