Warm cabbage salad with bacon and apples

Flavourful twist on coleslaw a snap to prepare!

I’ve been having a lot of fun lately playing around with a new kitchen appliance. Created by the same Ottawa-based key team members that garnered worldwide fame with their InstantPot, the new Ropot (think RobotPot; they call it “the intelligent robot cooker”) is quite different but equally versatile. It’s super pretty too – look at the image below! With eight pre-programmed modes plus a manual option, the Ropot is easy to use and remarkably efficient. I found the multipurpose cooker’s greatest strength to be the neat built-in stirring paddle in the non-stick inner pot so you can add ingredients and have them stir-fry without any manual intervention. With heating elements both underneath the pan and in the lid, food cooks very quickly and evenly. There’s also a neat filtering system that controls odors and the pot is super easy to clean after use. I’m looking forward to trying other modes, especially the braise/steam function and the roasting function and will refer to the recipes Ropot provides for technique tips to guide me as I develop more recipes of my own.  Note that you can easily prepare this salad in a conventional frying pan, although you will likely have to increase cooking time slightly, and you’ll need to stir frequently. If you want to switch things up a little, pears would be a nice substitute instead of apples.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (250 mL) uncooked, diced bacon (about 4 slices)
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) diced onion
• 1 apple, cored and diced (do not peel)
• 3 cups (750 mL) chopped cabbage (1 inch/2.5 cm pieces)
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) white sugar
• 3 tablespoons (45 mL) rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) celery seeds
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

Method

• Plug in the Ropot and allow it to complete the 3 minute preheat function.
• Add diced bacon to the pot and press Function. The words “Stir Fry” will illuminate as the default cycle. Press the plus (+) sign to increase from the standard 3 minute setting to an 8 minute setting; this should be long enough to cook the bacon thoroughly.
• When the bacon is crispy, drain off half the bacon fat. Add onion and apple to the pot and press Function again for a 3 minute Stir Fry cycle.
• Add cabbage to the pot and press Function then press the plus (+) sign twice for a 4 minute cycle.
• When cabbage has wilted after the 4 minute cycle, sprinkle the sugar, rice vinegar, celery seeds, salt and pepper over the bacon, onion, apple and cabbage mixture. Press Function then the minus (–) sign four times for a 1 minute Stir Fry cycle.
• Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with parsley. Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish.

Note: I was provided a Ropot for testing purposes but, as always, all opinions expressed are entirely my own.