This is a big bowl of sweet-sour winter salad, crisp and hot for eating as a light lunch or as a side for grilled chicken.

Finely shred the leaves of a quarter of a medium-sized red cabbage, removing the tough stalk as you go. Put the cabbage in a bowl. Scrub and shred 100g of crisp carrots into matchsticks. Slice 1 fennel thinly and add to the other vegetables.

Peel 40g of ginger, then grate it very finely, almost to a purée, and stir it into 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar. Pour over the vegetables, toss them gently then set aside for 20 minutes or so.

Halve and seed 100g of black grapes. Finely slice 1 ripe red chilli, removing the seeds if you wish. Add the grapes and sliced chilli to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Remove the peel from 2 blood oranges with a sharp knife, then remove the segments and set aside. Reserve as much juice from the oranges as you can while peeling the fruit.

In a shallow pan, toast 50g of skinned almonds until golden.

Now make the dressing. In a small jar with a screw-type lid, mix together 2 tsp of grain mustard, the white wine vinegar from the marinating cabbage, a good grinding of salt, 2 tsp of good-quality runny honey, 3 tbsp of the reserved juice from the oranges and 4 tbsp of groundnut oil. Grind in a little black pepper, then screw on the lid and shake until the dressing comes together.

Pour the dressing over the cabbage, add the toasted almonds and segments of orange and transfer to a large serving bowl. Serves 2-3

Toss the vegetables occasionally to keep the vegetables wet with marinade.

Don’t take your eyes off the almonds as they can burn in a minute.

You could also swap some of the cabbage for shredded raw brussels sprouts or bean shoots.

This is a good base for a major salad.

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