My favorite white cabbage salad: only a few ingredients and so easy to make, this white cabbage salad is the perfect side dish for almost any kind of meal.
This simple Romanian white cabbage salad is one of the best salad side dishes you can imagine. I think it has been my favorite salad all through my childhood and youth, and I still love it dearly.
I make it often because I think it fits just about anything, and I variate it slightly, sometimes adding more ingredients if I feel like having something a bit different.
So, no matter what you choose to cook, be sure that this white cabbage salad will be a very suitable side dish.
I strongly recommend you try this salad at least once; I think it is quite different from the American Coleslaw or the German Sour Cream Salad; all of them are absolutely great (I actually love any kind of cabbage salad), but quite different.
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Recipe ingredients
- White cabbage: White cabbage is actually pale green, especially on the outside, turning even paler on the inside. It has dense-leaved heads, which are generally pretty large; it is crisp and sweet. It is the kind of cabbage I use most of the time, the cabbage I need when making Romanian cabbage rolls, cabbage noodles, or fried cabbage with bacon.
- Oil: This is my grandmother's white cabbage salad recipe, the way she always made it. My only change is to use less oil, only about 2-3 tablespoons, while she would just pour the oil from the bottle until she felt it was right.
- You can add more oil than I do if you wish; just taste and decide for yourself.
- Do not use olive oil, though; that will not fit a Romanian cabbage salad at all; olive oil was never used much in Romania; I don't think my grandmother has ever even tasted it.
- For a genuine taste, use a mild sunflower oil or another rather neutral-tasting vegetable oil.
How to make white cabbage salad?
I think what makes this white cabbage salad different from other cabbage salads is its consistency. It is softer than the usual crisp cabbage salad due to the kneading of the cabbage. That might seem strange to you, but it is really not hard to do it and the result is really well worth it.
- After slicing the cabbage as finely as you can, sprinkle it with the salt and leave it for about half an hour (sometimes I leave it even a bit longer, it's OK).
- Knead the salad shortly, then start taking handfuls from the salted cabbage and squeeze them as well as you can. That will help release the extra moisture and make the salad really, really tender and somehow comforting, an unusual word to use when talking about a salad.
- Mix the kneaded cabbage salad with the dressing ingredients and stir well. Add the parsley.
- The white cabbage salad can be eaten immediately, but it only improves if left alone for at least a few hours. It is delicious during the next couple of days as well.
How to serve?
Cabbage salad with boiled potatoes:
- As I've mentioned above, this Romanian white cabbage salad used to be my favorite salad when I was young, and I remember that my preferred way of eating it was as a meal with plain boiled potatoes.
- My grandma would just boil some potatoes in their skin, and we would have those with cabbage salad, which was always slightly sour due to the vinegar, a bit salty and rather oily. She was always very generous with the oil (I am not that generous nowadays), which gave the cabbage that glistening look...
- I would crush the potatoes with the fork, pile lots of white cabbage salad on top, and enjoy! Delicious!
Cabbage salad as a side dish:
- The cabbage salad makes a super side dish for any of the dishes mentioned above, any meat dish you can think of, perfect for pork but also suitable for chicken or turkey.
- You can serve it with Hungarian beef goulash or pork goulash or with any kind of grilled meat like pork kebabs or sausages.
- The white cabbage salad can be easily brought to any potluck party.
What to do with leftovers?
- Cabbage salad keeps well in the fridge; you can eat it for at least 2-3 in a row.
- You can use some leftovers to make sandwiches, like the Japanese katsu sando or a vegetarian sandwich with pan-fried tofu and cabbage salad.
- Cook some pasta, drain it well, and mix it with the leftover cabbage salad. Melt some butter in a large skillet and fry the noodle cabbage mixture. Adjust the taste and serve.
- Cook some potatoes, slice them, and fry them in a little butter together with the cabbage salad leftovers. Adjust the taste with salt and pepper, and be generous with the fresh parsley.
Other cabbage salads
- Ramen Noodle Napa Cabbage Salad - the best ever noodle cabbage salad!
- German Cabbage Salad - a typical German salad for any occasion.
- Easy Coleslaw for Burgers - so simple and great to stuff into burgers.
Recipe
Simple White Cabbage Salad- Romanian Recipe
My favorite cabbage salad: only a few ingredients and so easy to make, this white cabbage salad is the perfect side dish for almost any kind of meal.
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Servings: 4
Calories: 92kcal
Ingredients
- 500 g/ 1.1 lbs white cabbage
- ยฝ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or more to taste preferably a mild-tasting sunflower oil
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small bunch of parsley
Instructions
- Slice the white cabbage as finely as possible. Place it in a bowl, mix it well with the salt and leave for half an hour.
- Knead the cabbage shortly with your hand, transfer it to a colander, and wipe the bowl clean to remove the moisture and extra salt.
- Take handfuls of the cabbage and squeeze them in your hand to release the extra moisture. Return the cabbage to the bowl.
- Add the oil and the vinegar and some freshly ground black pepper. Stir well, until the cabbage salad starts to glisten. Taste and adjust (if necessary) with more salt, pepper, vinegar, and oil. It should taste rather sour and salty. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley.
- It will keep well for several days in the fridge. Covered, of course.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/4 of the dish | Calories: 92kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 275mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g
Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @adinabeck or tag #WhereIsMySpoon!
Jen says
I'm getting ready for a trip to Romania and just looking at what I can expect as far as food goes. My favorite thing about this post is the bowl in your photo. My mom had the same bowl the entire time I was growing up. I have no idea what happened to it. It jumped off the screen at me and gave me a moment of nostalgia. Will definitely be trying this salad on my trip. Thanks!
Adina says
Hi Jen. Nice to read your comment. Expect a lot of meat in Romania ๐ :). You must try Sarmale (cabbage rolls), Polenta with cheese, and Papanasi (fried donuts with sour cream).
The bowl is actually a standard German bowl; I once read a joke saying that a sure sign someone is a true German is owning that bowl (so, I guess I am a true German now ๐ ). They became popular in the 70s, I think. I "inherited" the three I have from my mother-in-law.
Susan Miller says
So my grandmother made stuffed cabbage but called them Galushde. We make them with coarse pork, onions and rice. We cook them in soured water and put sour cream on them and eat with mumalega. My grandparents were from Bukovina. I have never heard of Samarle. What part of Romania is that from?
Adina says
Hi Susan. I was born in Sibiu - Transilvania, but we call them sarmale everywhere in Romania; they are
our national food. You can make sarmale with fresh or soured cabbage and we also eat them with sour cream and mฤmฤligฤ.
Jeniffer L Himelrick says
What is this called in Romanian? My daughter-in-law is Romanian and I would like to surprise her with this dish. But I want to know what it is called.
Adina says
Hi Jeniffer. It's called salatฤ de varzฤ.
Lisa says
Do you discard the liquid that comes out of the cabbage or is that part of the dressing? Thanks!
Adina says
Hi Lisa. I squeeze the cabbage over a colander in the sink, so what comes out is gone. If you kept it, it would probably be too salty.
Kathleen says
Sounds terrific my Swedish heritage loves cabbage I intend to make it for fatherโs day lunch to go with meats pasta and couscous Thank you
Adina says
I hope you will all like it. ๐
Sabrina says
This wonderful cabbage salad recipe makes me wonder. This is really appreciable article. I am going to try this one. Thanks a lot. happy blogging.
Kylie Wilding says
We have just come back from our first holiday out in Romania, and this salad was one of our favourite dishes. Had a bowl with almost every meal. Delish. I shall be making this at home.
My husband hates cabbage, but he loved this. xXx
Adina says
Hi Kylie. I hope you enjoyed Romania and that you like the salad, it is a standard recipe in my country. โบ
Patricia Rojas says
I love the Romanian cabbage salad. It takes me back to a summer in the mountains
Adina says
I am glad you liked it, Patricia. It is one of our favorite summer salads as well. ๐
Evi @ greenevi says
This really is one of the best side dishes ever! I love cabbage so much and these kind of simple salads are my favourite thing to make of it ๐
Jutta Holden says
Thanks so much for recipe!
Looks fantastic! Going to try this tonight!
Anca says
It's been a while since I had this salad. I don't find the right type of cabbage here for it. As you, I don't add as much oil like my relatives did.
Adina says
Yes, oil is very much loved in Romania, isn't it? My mother once told me she needs 6 liters of oil a month. I am not sure I use so much in an year, unless I bake lots of cakes using oil instead of butter and she never baked with oil...
Chris Scheuer says
I know I would love this salad and probably eat my weight in it. But it sounds pretty healthy so that might even be legal!