Red Cabbage Salad

The crunchy, juicy, tangy and refreshing topping of shredded red cabbage on a spicy falafel sandwich... drool! Yeah, that was my inspiration for using red cabbage in a salad, instead of making the usual sauteed cabbage. 101 Cookbooks, one of my favorite blogs, had a recipe for a red cabbage salad that sounded wonderful. I made a few modifications of my own and loved the end result so much, it deserves a place here for future reference.

Ingredients
1/2 Medium Red Cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded
1/4 C sunflower seeds, toasted
1 T olive oil
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 T vinegar
1/4 C dried cranberries
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil gently in a skillet. Add the minced garlic to the olive oil and remove from the heat. Allow this to sit for a few minutes. To save time, the cabbage can be shredded while the garlic infuses flavor in the olive oil. Place the cabbage in a microwaveable bowl and cook on high for about 2 minutes.

Next, add the vinegar, salt and pepper to the garlic oil and whisk well. I would imagine that any vinegar would go well here. Add the dressing to the shredded cabbage and toss well to thoroughly combine. Add the toasted sunflower seeds and cranberries and mix well.

Optional additions:
1. Some dried herb to flavor the oil along with the garlic
2. Crumbled feta cheese added as a garnish