Cabbage, Radish, and Cucumber Pressed Salad

This recipe is from Alicia's Silverstone's The Kind Diet.  I love this book, and it's the one I go to when I'm feeling.. blah... and really want to clean up my diet.  I made this tonight, and it is delicious!



From The Kind Diet:

Pressed salads are an interesting twist on fresh salads;  by lightly salting and pressing the vegetables, they become more digestible while retaining all their live enzymes.  In fact, the word "salad" comes from the Italian herba salata, which means means "salted herb."

This recipe uses vinegar rather than salt to wilt the vegetables.

Serves 2 to 3 people.

5-6 leaves napa cabbage, very thinly sliced
3 red radishes, thinly sliced
3 whole scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
1 apple, peeled and thinly sliced
1 1/2 TB umeboshi vinegar
1 TB balsamic or brown rice vinegar
1 TB toasted sunflower seeds

Combine all vegetables and fruit in a large mixing bowl.  Add the vinegars and massage the vegetables with your bare hands until they begin to wilt and release some liquid.  This may take a few minutes.  It should feel quite wet by the end.  Form into a mound and place a small plate on the vegetables within the bowl and place a weight on top (a full tea kettle of a big jar of juice) to press the vegetables.  Press for 20 to 30 minutes.  Pour off the excess fluid, and give the salad a good squeeze with your hands.  Taste it;  if it tastes salty, give it a quick and gentle rinse under cold water, then squeeze it again.