There are umpteen coleslaw recipes spread across the world, and you have 534672 different ways to go about making it.

Here’s just one of them. And the story behind it.

For a short period (I guess we’re just not that glamorous) we had a Planet Hollywood restaurant in Amsterdam. They served these immense (and overpriced) burgers there with some of the best coleslaw on the side I had ever tasted. It was love at first bite.

I tried different recipes over the years but none of them came even close to that slightly sweet, slightly sour and wonderfully creamy dressing they served there. Then I stumbled upon a KFC coleslaw copycat recipe online and gave it a whirl. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. It just wasn’t the Planet Hollywood kind of yumminess I was looking for.

So I tweaked and tweaked until I came up with the dressing for me. Crunchy vegetables and a creamy, sweet and tangy dressing thick enough to coat your veggies yet not so thick it borders on mayonnaise.

Suffice to say I love coleslaw almost as much as I love summer and spring itself.

Ingredients:

Coleslaw:

1/2 white cabbage
1 large carrot
2 spring onions
1 small red onion

 
Dressing:

1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp celery salt
pinch of pepper
1 tbsp milk
6 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp buttermilk
11/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp dried parsley

Directions:

We like our coleslaw as crunchy as possible. Want a mellower bite? Use savoy cabbage instead.

I use my Magimix G2 blade slicer for the cabbage. Gives the perfect coleslaw for me.

For the carrot I use the G4 grater.

It just works best for me.

I slice the onion by hand, in thin half-quarts.

For cheerful green and extra flavor I finely mince the spring onions and add them.

In a bowl you mix the sugar, celery salt and regular salt.

Squeeze in the lemon juice and pour in the milk, buttermilk and Dijon mustard. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.

Almost forgot the pepper. Bad Kay.

Hellmann’s, the one and only. Add 6 tbsp.

Add less if you like your dressing a wee bit runnier and more if you like it thicker.

Stir well, it will stay lumpy at first but will eventually turn into a smooth dressing that coats your fork. Exactly the consistency I’m looking for.

Stir in the dried parsley—for this recipe dried parsley seems to work better.

Pour in the dressing.

And combine well.

This one’s perfect for burgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs, French fries and pulled pork sandwiches. I also use it to liven up my pulled chicken sandwiches.

You just need a basic coleslaw recipe in your life to fall back on.

 
What’s your favorite coleslaw and dressing recipe?