Another Promise - This One's For Jenn

[akirlu]

I thought I had already blogged a version of this salad/dressing recipe but now I can't find it, so I'm (re-?)posting for my own reference -- this time with adequate tagging!

Cilantro Cabbage Slaw with Asian Dressing

• 1/4 cup sesame seed
• (1/3 cup sliced almonds, or chopped walnuts, or hulled pistachios)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• (1 teaspoon grated peeled ginger)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup regular sesame oil
• Soy sauce
• (1 fresh serrano chile, finely chopped, with seeds)
• 1 small head Napa cabbage or green cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• ½ yellow onion, cut to small ribbons
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Parenthetical ingredients are optional. Liquid ingredient amounts are VERY approximate -- adjust to taste. But don't skimp on the cilantro. It's critical.

Toast nuts and seeds in oven on a cookie sheet. Mix oil and vinegar with sugar, a dash or two of soy sauce, garlic, and, if using, ginger and chopped peppers. Whisk to emulsify.

Toss together cabbage, scallions, onions, and cilantro, and dress with the oil & vinegar mixture. This salad actually benefits (imho) from being allowed to sit and percolate in the fridge *after* it’s dressed, so at this point you can cover and refrigerate until the rest of the meal is ready, or add the nuts,seeds, and pepper immediately, and serve.

If you have leftovers, save them. The dressed salad is even better the next day.

Comments

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

For me, "cilantro" = "soap", and "chile peppers" = "I think I saw the top of my head just passin' bye", so I ought to ignore this recipe, but parts of it seem so excellent that I'll probably do a Seriously Modified version once my Michilihi/Napa cabbage starts to mature... which will be a while -- I planted the seeds for the first batch only yesterday.

My verbal/taste sense suggests that using this dressing on this Asian green will produce something very different from using it on European cabbbage (of which I seem not to be especially fond).

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

If you do like your highly modified variant of the recipe, I will be interested to hear about the modifications. I seem to be among the rare humans who passed through the "tastes like soap" phase and out the other side to the "OMG where's more?!?" phase, wrt cilantro. I do remember finding it soapy tasting long ago, but no longer do. I've also learned to like Brussels sprouts, if it comes to that, but almost anything turns out to be good if sauteed with bacon.

I will note that I find that European cabbages sliced very fine with an oil & vinegar dressing of some sort tend to be a very different beast from how they are boiled or used in coleslaw -- for instance, an earlier variant of the cabbage salad I've done is just half a head of cabbage cut to ribbons, 1 onion ditto, oil, vinegar, and Lots of Black Pepper, all tossed together, which I also like a lot, and is simpler. It's what my Swedish aunt refers to as "pizza salad" as it's a variant on what the Swedish pizzerias serve.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

It occurred to me today that you might have good luck substituting parsley, or Italian parsley, for the cilantro. It would be different, but it might be quite nice in a more Mediterranean way.

[grytpype-thynne.livejournal.com]

Cilantro?? Oh - it's coriander. Is that its common US name? It's God's gift to salsa too.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, in the US we only use 'coriander' to refer to the dried seeds. The leafy greens are cilantro. Also, courgettes are zucchini, and aubergines are egg plant.

Yes, cilantro is lovely in pico de gallo salsas, but where it really shines is in Peruvian Aji salsa. (FYI - when I make Aji sauce I use way more garlic than that recipe calls for, and no mayonnaise, since I use it for a pouring sauce rather than a dipping sauce.)