Spikey Slaw

This is a real favourite...  Again you can modify with anything that you have to hand, it adds a lovely twist to any cold meat and is a great accompaniment or snack in its own right.

Ingredients (serves 6 as a side);

Half a cabbage (red or firm white is best)
Carrots, around half of the weight of the cabbage
25ml fish sauce
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of soft brown or palm sugar
Juice of one lime
A small bunch of coriander leaf / basil / mint
Half of a red chilli, deseeded

Directions;

1) Shred the cabbage with a knife to a few millimetres width (I find it's too mushy if grated) and then peel and grate in the carrot.

2) Grate the garlic clove on the finest side of your grater and finely chop the chilli, add to the mix.

3) Finely chop the herbs and add to the mix. Any two of the three herbs works well and add plenty, there are big flavours here (the one caveat is the mint, you have to be a little wary of toothpastiness!).

4) Mix the juice of the lime with the fish sauce (they should be roughly equal volumes) and sugar until well mixed and the sugar has dissolved.

5) Add the dressing to the slaw and mix well, ensuring the garlic and chilli is spread throughout.

This slaw's delicious if eaten immediately but I find that the flavour develops over a few hours and so usually try to make it in advance and remove it from the 'fridge a little before use so that it can warm a little.  If the slaw seems a little watery drain any excess liquid prior to serving.

After you've made this once you can modify it to your tastes, especially the dressing / herbs. Use this recipe only as a guide and don't be afraid to endlessly alter, try new things and make the recipe your own, what's the worst that can happen?!