Cabbage Salad with Smoked Salmon
Cold-smoked salmon over shredded cabbage, bell pepper strips, and a cumin vinaigrette. No cooking, no heat — five minutes start to finish.
The fat here comes from two places worth knowing: 23 ml of olive oil in the dressing and 56 g of cold-smoked salmon carrying omega-3. Together with 17 g of protein and just 13 g of carbs, this 352-calorie salad sits in the low-carb, high-fat corner of the library.
Ingredients
- bell pepper 1
- olive oil 1.5 tablespoon
- vinegar 1 tablespoon
- ground cumin 1 pinch
- cabbage, shredded 5 ounces
- smoked salmon 2 ounces
Method
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Slice the bell pepper into strips.
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In a small bowl, whisk together a dressing of oil, vinegar and cumin powder. Season with pepper and salt.
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Place the shredded cabbage in a bowl and toss it with the dressing, bell pepper strips and smoked salmon.
Dress the cabbage 10 to 15 minutes before eating. The vinegar softens the raw shreds just enough — crunch stays, squeak goes — and the cumin seeps into every strand. Swap ground cumin for whole seeds if you have them: toast the seeds 30 seconds in a dry pan first to crack the flavor open.
Cold-smoked salmon retains more of its original omega-3 than raw fillets stored for the same period. A 2006 analysis found that cold-smoked Atlantic salmon lost 11 mg of EPA and DHA over 28 days of refrigerated storage, while raw fillets lost 30 mg. The smoking process creates a surface layer that slows the oxidative breakdown of those fats.
Omega-3 preservation in cold-smoked salmon · DOIBehind this recipe
Can I use hot-smoked salmon instead of cold-smoked?
Yes. The texture shifts from silky to flaky, which changes the salad's feel but not its structure. Nutritionally, a 2006 analysis found that cold-smoked salmon retained more omega-3 than raw fillets over 28 days of storage — cold smoking appears to slow oxidative breakdown of EPA and DHA. Hot smoking uses higher temperatures, which may accelerate that process. Either way, the protein and overall macro profile stay close.
Why cumin in a cabbage salad dressing?
Cumin adds warmth without heat. It bridges the smoky salmon and the sharp vinegar, turning a standard oil-and-acid dressing into something with a backbone. A single pinch (1 gram) is enough to shift the flavor without dominating it. If you have whole cumin seeds, toast them briefly in a dry pan before crushing — the heat opens up volatile compounds the powder has already lost.
