Refresh your summer dinners: A simple yet exotic vegetable slaw

We should eat more vegetables, especially during heatwaves. They contain water and help keep the body well-hydrated, so don't overlook slaw in the summer. Here's a recipe if you're out of ideas for simple and quick dinner sides.

In this slaw, the essential ingredients are vegetables you can buy at any market without breaking the bank. We're talking about carrots and courgettes. However, to give them an oriental flair, you'll also need some spices popular in Asian cuisine. You probably already have soy sauce in your kitchen cabinet, as it's increasingly used even in British dishes. You'll also need rice vinegar. It's much milder than distilled vinegar.

Rice vinegar is often associated with sushi but is also great for dressing salads. When you decide to buy it, check that its ingredients list is as short as possible. It should be limited to rice, water, sugar, salt, possibly natural flavouring agents, or Koji mould to aid fermentation. In this recipe, you can also use mild wine or fruit vinegar.

Do you usually use rapeseed oil or olive oil for salads? That's a good choice. However, for a slaw with an Asian flavour, you'll need sesame oil. It's considered the oldest oil in the world. It was already known in ancient India and has been used in Ayurveda for centuries. It's one of the key ingredients in Asian cuisine. It has an intense, nutty flavour and should only be used raw, so it's ideal for slaws and salads. It's also worth sprinkling them with sesame seeds.

Ingredients:

                                              
• young courgette
• 2 carrots
• 1 leek, only the white part
• 3 tablespoons of rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• a few sprigs of coriander or parsley
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped peanuts or cashews

Instructions:

1. Peel the carrots and grate them on a coarse grater or cut them into thin strips. Wash the courgette and prepare it similarly. Peel the leek and slice it thinly. You can also use a vegetable slicer. Peel the garlic and crush it.
2. Mix the rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, and sesame oil well. Add the garlic, and season with salt and pepper. It's convenient to do this in a screw-top jar.
3. Mix the carrots with the courgette. Drizzle with the sauce and mix well. Toast the sesame seeds and nuts in a dry pan, then sprinkle them over the slaw.
4. Finally, add finely chopped coriander or parsley.