![A plate of celery slaw with seeds and dates on a wooden table.](https://assets.epicurious.com/photos/59693925df48bf035a7f5961/1:1/w_2560%2Cc_limit/celery-slaw-with-seeds-and-dates-recipe-BA-071417.jpg)
Even the most skeptical celery eaters will be surprised by the cool, sweet, crunchy, and savory flavors that are packed into this side dish recipe.
Ingredients
8 servings
Pickled mustard seeds:
Slaw and assembly:
Pickled mustard seeds:
Step 1
Place mustard seeds in a small heatproof jar or bowl. Bring vinegar, sugar, and salt to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Pour brine over mustard seeds and let cool, about 2 hours.
Slaw and assembly:
Step 2
Bring shallot and oil to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook 1 minute (watch it carefully; you don’t want the shallot to take on any color). Let cool, then pour oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl; discard shallot.
Step 3
Whisk shallot oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl to combine; season vinaigrette with salt.
Step 4
Trim ends from cucumbers and very thinly slice lengthwise on a mandoline or with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife into long ribbons. Toss cucumbers, arugula, celery, celery leaves, and dates in a large bowl to combine.
Step 5
Drizzle half of dressing over slaw and add 2 Tbsp. drained pickled mustard seeds (save remaining mustard seeds for another use) and toss again to coat. Taste and season with salt.
Step 6
Transfer slaw to a platter and top with sesame seeds. Serve with remaining vinaigrette alongside.
Do Ahead
Step 7
Mustard seeds can be pickled 1 week ahead. Cover and chill.
Vinaigrette can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.
Leave a Review
Reviews (4)
Back to TopGood but a bit more complicated than necessary. To simplify it, I added mustard to the dressing instead of pickling mustard seeds, and I added thinly-sliced shallots to the salad instead of making shallot oil. I also halved the amount of dates because it was too sweet. With these alterations it would get 4 forks.
porosoff
NY
6/19/2021
This was excellent: a nice balance of crunchy, sweet, bitter and savory. I used more celery than called for to up the celery-cucumber balance but otherwise made the recipe as written. You can halve the number of pickled mustard seeds called for. It only says to use 2 Tbs. of the 4 in the recipe, and there's not much to do with the remaining ones.
Vidkun
Austin, Texas
3/10/2020
I love the flavors, but will reduce the dates by half next time. It was very sweet.
smginnc
North Carolina
11/10/2017
This is very tasty. Would definitely make this again as it's a great way to use up summer cucumbers.
ckloepfer
WInnipeg
8/8/2017