Here's a lazy hack for those times you want this filling salad without the hassle of chopping anything: You can replace the first four ingredients above with pre-packaged coleslaw mix, like the kind Trader Joe's sells in the salad section, and some trail mix. Just toss them together in a ratio of 3 or 4 parts salad mix to 1 part trail mix by volume. Basically, eyeball it to be mostly salad but with enough fruit and nuts to be present in every bite. Protip: choose your trail mix carefully, being cautious of weird ingredients that will clash - no chocolate!!!!
Instructions
Core the cabbages and quarter them. Thinly sliced cabbage makes surprisingly high volume, so one quarter will probably yield 2 cups or even more.
Thinly slice the cabbages. This can be tricky because of the geometry of how the leaves are packed in the whole cabbage, so you can try on smaller sections of the cabbage to decide on the best slicing strategy. I usually slice thin sections, then lay them flat and slice again along the same axis. The desired result should be like thick matchsticks.
Slice your dried fruit so its shape resemebles the cabbage as closely as possible. Longish thin pieces are what you're going for. The specific fruit is up to you - I like tangier fruits like mango or pineapple. The drier the fruit, the better. When they are sticky it makes it harder to mix, so if they are sticking together, separate the pieces by hand.
Add the chopped ingredients to a mixing bowl.
If you're using large nuts like walnuts or almonds, you should roughly chop them. Pre-packaged slivered almonds also work well. I'm using pumpkin seeds because that's what I had in my pantry. That's one of the reasons this recipe is great - if you have dried fruit or nuts/seeds you want to use up, this is a simple, refreshing way to toss them together. Add 1/4 cup to your mixing bowl. After the recipe is complete, if you feel like adding more, you can add to taste.
Add olive oil. You don't need a lot, it just helps the ingredients mix by letting them slip and slide against one another when you're mixing/
Add salt and lemon juice. These ingredients are absolutely critical for making this salad pop. Use them very intentionally, by which I mean, be generous but don't overdo. I often go too far for others' liking because I love this salad to be extra salty and citrusy. It's like sour candy. Start with the smaller amount, but add more in to taste until it feels a little like sour candy.
Spiciness is also a nice way to make this salad pop (a little like spicy Mexican candy), but is optionl. Add Cayenne to taste.
