Delicious Food Day

It's not Thursday, but experience has shown that if I wait for Thursday I'll have forgotten what I wanted to post here, so we'll just take out the "Thurs" part. I've been cooking a lot lately, so it's possible we'll be having more than one "Delicious Food Day" per week. I think it's a good trend.

Today's recipe: Asian Coleslaw

This is a recipe of my own invention. I wasn't sure what to call it: shrimp and cabbage salad sounds so pedestrian. It's not really Asian, though, and it doesn't particularly resemble coleslaw. I suppose I could call it Untruthful Salad.

This is tangy and refreshing for a warm day, and would be even better as leftovers when the flavors have a chance to blend.

Asian Coleslaw (aka Untruthful Salad)

Dressing/Marinade

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp orange flower water (this is available at Mediterranean food stores. It adds a lot of fragrance and sweetness to what could otherwise be a slightly harsh dish.)
1 tsp sugar
4 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp liquid from mandarin oranges (see below)
Hot sauce of your choice (Tabasco or something similar), to taste
Ground ginger, to taste (if you like measuring things, start with about a quarter teaspoon and see what you like)
1 large pinch garam masala (this Indian spice mix is available at most regular grocery stores. It's pretty strong, so be sparing with it -- it's not supposed to be the dominant flavor here)
Salt, to taste

About 1 1/2 cups cabbage, sliced into strips
1 cup raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 can mandarin orange slices
Extra olive oil, lemon juice, hot sauce, ginger and salt (for the cabbage)

Mix together all dressing ingredients. Set aside half for later and put the other half in a bowl with shrimp. Marinate in fridge for about an hour (or as long as your patience will allow).

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat. When hot, add the cabbage. Stir to coat, then drizzle with lemon juice, a little hot sauce, and salt and ginger to taste. Saute until slightly softened but still crunchy. Add shrimp and all of the marinade, making sure shrimp are touching the pan, and cover. Stir once or twice. Allow to cook until shrimp are pink all the way through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, place shrimp and cabbage. Add mandarin oranges and the remainder of the dressing, and toss to coat.

Serves 2.