Catching up from the weekend

On Saturday we went to a tamale-making party at some friends' house. I made a pot of pinto beans and a "pressure salad" (see below) to bring. mmmm, tamales!

Pressure salad is my newly made up, geeky term for a salad made from vegetables transformed by osmotic and physical pressure:

1 head green cabbage, thinly sliced
4 good-sized carrots, thinly sliced (with the ceramic slicer)
copious salt
Cilantro, optional

Put the cabbage in a large bowl, add a goodly amount of salt (1/4 cup or so), and toss well to make sure it's well coated. Put a plate on top of the cabbage and as much weight as you can on the plate (I used about 30 pounds). Put the carrots in a separate bowl, salt them liberally, toss well, and let them sit.
Every 30 minutes: drain any liquid that's collected around the cabbage, toss it a bit, then replace the weight. Drain the carrots.
Keep this up for at least an hour, preferably two.
Rinse the cabbage and carrots very well and press out as much water as you can by hand. Put them both back in the large bowl and re-apply the weight.
Let things stand for about 15 minutes, then drain again. Repeat once.
Do a final wringing out by hand and then transfer everything into the bowl you'll serve in.
Add the dressing (below) and cilantro and serve.

Cumin-orange dressing

1 cup orange juice
1 Tbs cumin seeds
1/4-1/2 cup neutral oil
~1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 tsp each sweet paprika and chipotle powder
salt, black pepper

Over medium-high heat reduce the OJ to about 1/4 cup. Meanwhile, toast the cumin seeds in a dry pan until they are aromatic, transfer to a bowl.
Add the OJ and an equal amount of oil to the bowl along with a couple Tbs of lime juice and a good pinch of salt.
Whisk together and taste for acid/sweet balance. Add more oil or lime if you need to.
Whisk in the paprika and chipotle, a good grind of pepper, and adjust the salt level. Be careful with the salt because the cabbage and carrots will still be pretty salty.

[Update: I originally forgot to post why exactly someone should want to do all this pressing and waiting. The reason is quite simple: the result of this is a cabbage salad with an absolutely fantastic texture. The cabbage ends up being tender-crisp in a way that you just can't get any other way without waiting a loooong time.]