Broccoli-Carrot Slaw

Growing up, Popeye the Sailorman was one of my favourite cartoons. I liked how he was armed with strength after popping the can and eating the spinach. For some reason, instead of associating the spinach with callaloo, I always imagined Popeye’s spinach to be broccoli. The thought of eating broccoli used to gross me out. I couldn’t imagine eating it. All of that changed when I moved to Barbados and ate it for the first time – steamed.

I immediately fell in love with broccoli and it is now one of my favourite vegetables to eat – cooked and raw, flowerets and stems.

Slaws are usually composed of raw ingredients – sliced, shaved or shredded thinly or finely. To make this slaw you will need to remove the fibrous coating of the broccoli stems by simply using a potato peeler. The next important step will be to cut the flowerets into tiny bit-size pieces. If you like, you can opt to blanch the flowerets because I know that some people do not like their vegetables firm.

To blanch the broccoli flowerets – first cut them into small bite-size pieces, then add them to a pot of salted boiling water. Cook for exactly 1 minute, drain well and add to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop the cooking process. Let it stay in the cold water for 5 minutes then drain well. Add the drained broccoli to a clean cloth-kitchen towel and pat dry to remove all the excess moisture.

Now it’s time to make the Broccoli-carrot Slaw.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large carrot
• 2 large bulbs of broccoli
• Whole mayonnaise
• Spicy or grainy mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ teaspoon sugar or to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Shred the carrot on the large side of a box grater.
2. Remove the stems from the broccoli, peel the fibrous coating and then shred the crisp stems on the finer side of the grater.
3. Cut the flowerets into tiny, bite-size pieces. Blanch if necessary.
4. Add shredded carrot, broccoli stems and flowerets to a bowl.
5. Add mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper to suit your taste and dressing consistency, as well as the sugar. Mix well to coat the vegetables.
6. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until you are ready to serve.