Cabbage 1: slaw with Sichuan pickles

I recently decided to buy a humble cabbage to take home with the intent of finding tasty things to make of it using only what I already had on hand. I made four dishes, but the third one was a bust. For the first, I started raw. I shredded a few cabbage leaves without softening them first to keep them super crunchy. Raw cabbage is only slightly sweet with a hint of bitterness, so a good slaw requires the addition of quite a few other flavors. While most slaws depend on mayonnaise for depth of flavor, I decided to toss this cabbage with some sour Sichuan pepper pickles, a bit of sea salt, a bit of black pepper, a splash of ginger syrup to fill the mouth with flavor, and some peanut oil to help carry all those flavors.

Here are the proportions.
1 cup of shredded cabbage
1/4 cup of shredded Sichuan (or other sour) pickles
2 T peanut oil
1/2 t white ginger syrup (or 1 T minced pickled ginger)
a pinch of sea salt
a few twists of fresh black pepper

This slaw is fast, simple, crisp, fresh and delicious. Eat it just as it is, or serve it with white rice and some crispy tofu. Yum!