Ginger-Garlic Coleslaw

While I was out in Dillingham last week, I was hanging out with my friends Nathan and Kelly who live out there.  Nathan and I are old friends from grad school, and back in the day, he use to host "Buffy Nights" at his cabin in Fairbanks.

He's brought the tradition out to Dillingham on Saturday evenings and has added a fun potluck component-- every week a different ingredient is selected for people to incorporate in their dish.  Since I was scheduled to fly out on Saturday, Nathan decided to switch Buffy night to Friday so I could join in.  The slight problem with Friday night was that Kelly was down in Perryville for work and because of the flight schedules and planes only fly into Perryville a few days a week, she wouldn't get back home until Saturday, and Nathan, a middle school teacher, would be chaperoning the middle school dance on Friday night.  So I was tasked with hosting the evening.

The previous winner of the the informal potluck dish competition selection "green" as the ingredient-- not exactly a ingredient, but that's what she selected for the St. Patrick's Day Buffy night which was postponed for this weekend, so green it was.

Kelly had mentioned that they had a head of cabbage in the fridge, so I decided to make some coleslaw as my green dish.  I headed to the AC-- the Alaska Commercial grocery (random bit of knowledge-- the AC company is formerly know as the Hudson's Bay Co.) store to pick up some fresh ginger for the coleslaw.

I love shopping at the AC's across Alaska because I always find some random things that I never find in other stores.  I may be the only person who looks forward to heading out to rural communities to go shopping.  No wonder with prices like these...

 

So, I headed back and started assembling the ingredients.  Cabbage, carrots, fresh garlic and ginger, chili powder, rice vinegar, and soy sauce.

 

The one ingredient missing was some sesame oil, but I couldn't find any.  Whenever I travel out to rural Alaska, I always bring some food with me since, especially with the smaller communities, you never know what will be available-- especially gluten-free-- or how much it will cost (if there even is a store).  One thing I had brought with me is some Trader Joe's sesame honey cashews, so I mined some sesame seeds from the bottom of the bag.

I don't really have specific amounts that I use when making this coleslaw.  Basically, sliver up the cabbage and then chop to make it somewhat bite-size pieces.  Shred the carrots and mix them in a bowl.  Then add three cloves of crushed garlic and grate a chunk of ginger about the size of your thumb.  Finally, add a dash of chili powder and a splash of rice, soy sauce, and sesame oil (if I had it, though the sesame seeds added a nice touch).

The smorgasbord of foods with green was pretty impressive

and there was Jason and his Big Papa pickle.  He actually did win the contest for the best dish with his chicken and green bell pepper tacos with salsa verde, but hasn't announced what the ingredient is for the next potluck is.

We never actually did watch any episodes of Buffy.  There was talk of playing Cranium, but the play doh had crystallized.  It was a fun night hanging out with an interesting group of folks.