Moving even farther away from coleslaw as we know it, the saladingredients can be a lot more than cabbage. Carrot, red onion, bell peppers are usual. So are fruits like apple and pineapple. The cabbage doesn’t even have to be finely shredded. It can be cut into strips or squares.
I am not a huge fan of vinaigrette so my coleslaw has mayo for its dressing. It also has roughly chopped pineapple.
Note that white cabbage contains a lot of water. To make sure that your coleslaw is served at its prime, don’t let the salad sit for too long after everything has been tossed together. The cabbage will start to expel water as soon as it comes in contact with salt.
So, serve your coleslaw right after tossing it. And use only just enough mayo to moisten the salad.
Cabbage, Carrot and Pineapple Coleslaw

Ingredients
- 1 medium white cabbage
- 1 medium carrot
- ½ cup pineapple roughly chopped and drained (see notes after the recipe)
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- ¼ cup Japanese mayo
Instructions
- Remove the outermost leaves of the cabbage and discard.
- Rinse the cabbage and drain.
- Using a super sharp knife or a mandoline, shred the cabbage as finely as you can. Keep cutting just until you reach the core. Discard the core.
- Peel the carrot and julienne. You may slice it thinly using the mandoline then cut into matchsticks.
- Place the shredded cabbage, julienned carrot and drained pineapple in a bowl.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Toss to distribute everything evenly. The best way to do this is with the fingers of both hands.
- Add the mayo to the vegetables. Toss (oh, please DON’T MIX) lightly just until everything is coated with mayo.
- Taste the coleslaw. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.