Easy Salvadoran cabbage salad (Curtido de mayonesa)

This is shredded cabbage with carrot, onion, oregano, mayonnaise and mustard. It is similar to a coleslaw salad, but the dressing is a little different.
In San Miguel, my hometown, we call it “curtido de mayonesa”. This is mostly used for the pupusas. However, I have used this kind of cabbage salad in many other salvadoran dishes like, salvadoran enchiladas, fish tacos, hotdogs, salvadoran pastelitos, yuca frita, yuca sancochada, and as a side salad.

It’s really easy to put together and it adds the perfect crunch to your dishes.

Simple ingredients

Cabbage

Carrot

Onion

Mayonniese

Oregano

Mustard

Apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper

How to make cabbage salad (step by step)

1. Cut and shred cabbage in fine pieces. See video for reference. Place in a bowl. In this step, you can also buy the already shredded mix from the store, if you do it will save you even more time, some of those packets already have carrot in it.
2. Shred onion and carrot to similar sizes of the cabbage. Add to the cabbage bowl.
3. Add boiling water to the cabbage bowl to completely cover it. Let it rest for 15 minutes. This is a very important step to make sure the cabbage gets soften.
4. Strain cabbage mixture and add mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper. Stir until all is combined. I am using homemade mayonnaise so if you want to make your own check my recipe to know how to make homemade mayonnaise.

How to serve

Serve as a topping, or side salad. It is mainly accompanying pupusas.

How to store

You can store in the fridge for about a week in an airtight container. Do not freeze, cabbage like many other vegetables do not defrost well.