COCA COLA CABBAGE

There are many recipes that I have taken away with me from the kitchen of my adolescence.

And while the majority of these recipes include soups, stews, and roasts, I will never forget one Christmas being handed a Tupperware box of what looked like a syrupy purple coleslaw and being told to nuke it in the microwave it for the Christmas dinner.

It was very unlike my mother to be microwaving components of a roast, so I was pleased to know that this beautiful magenta tinted dish was actually a product of my mother’s preplanning.

Days before Christmas my mother had actually boiled down some red cabbage in a little sugar and stashed it away in a Tupperware box so that the broken-down sugar particles could make the cabbage soft and sticky upon a reheat, which at Christmas is exactly the kind of forward thinking that will make the cooking stress free.

Recipes I steal from my mother, while I have the utmost respect for them and keep them near and dear to my heart, I do feel as though my hobby gives me artistic right to tamper with them as I see fit. Sorry Mam.

In this case, I have heightened the syrupy stickiness of the cabbage to an almost caramelised consistency by using coca cola in place of water, that coats the shreds of cabbage in a glossy almost peppery coat and spike it with some smoky paprika to give an almost BBQ hint.

On the side of your Christmas dinner, slapped into a sandwich or a burger, eaten with some cheese and crackers – I always love finding new ways of incorporating this deep, sticky-glazed cabbage into my festive eating and to be honest, I’ve even found myself making it once or twice during the year and incorporating it into a very unusual looking yet bizarrely alluring coleslaw.

And again, just like my mother, I thoroughly advise this is made a good day or two in advance of use and heated up just before serving.

Serves 4 – 6

1 head of red cabbage

1 tsp olive oil

50g soft brown sugar

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 litre full-cat coca cola

1. Slice the cabbage into small shreds while you heat the oil in your deepest pan with high sides, on a medium heat.
2. Drop the shredded cabbage with a little salt into the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, just to soften it, but don’t be too alarmed when it doesn’t wilt that much. We’ll get there!
3. Add the soft brown sugar and paprika and continue to stir until the cabbage starts to reduce down a little further, should take about 5 or 10 minutes.
4. Pour in the coca cola, bringing it up so far to cover the cabbage in the pan. Drink the rest if you have any leftover. Turn up the heat and bring the pan to a boil. Once boiling, drop the heat low and bring the pan to a simmer.
5. Leave the pan for 45 minutes on a low heat, stirring occasionally.
6. After this time is up, turn the heat up high and stir the pan. Cook on a hight heat for a further 10 minutes, allowing the cabbage to drink the last of the cola and adopt a conker like caramel glaze.
7. Turn off the heat and allow to go cool before storing in a Tupperware box to reheat in a pan until piping hot when you are ready to serve.