I’ve always had a thing for cabbage, even if I was unaware of my love for coleslaw, it started back when I lived in Singapore.
In middle school one of my really good friends, Margaret, lived down the street from me, we’d often hang out on Friday afternoons. Her parents worked for the American embassy in Singapore and entertained fancy guests often, which meant their fridge was filled with tasty leftovers. We’d raid the fridge, go up stairs and watch movies for the afternoon nibbling on various tasty treats, Margaret’s fridge was the first place I tried tiramisu and that memory sticks well with me, but the other great thing I found among the shelves was this salad.
Spicy green cabbage and crunchy ramen noodles start to become soggy as they soak up a delicious sesame oil based salad dressing all brightened by rice wine vinegar. This makes for a great side dish along side Japanese inspired food or better still on it’s own in a large bowl with some grilled chicken slices.
Kyoto Coleslaw
-
Category:
Salad, Side Dishes
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 tbsp. sesame seeds
- ½ c sliced almonds
- 2 pkg ramen noodles, crushed
- 1 large head green cabbage, shredded
- ½ c green onions, sliced
Dressing
- 6 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- ¼ c sesame oil
- ¼ c canola oil
- 2 tbsp. sugar
- ½ tsp. ground pepper
- ½ tsp. salt
Directions
Salad
- In a small pan toast the sesame seeds and almonds until they gain a little color and are fragrant, put them into a bowl, add the crushed ramen noodles and set aside for later.
- Shred the cabbage thinly by hand, with a food processor or my preferred method with a mandolin, add this to a large mixing bowl with the sliced green onions.
Dressing
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients together, wait to dress the salad until right before you serve, it’s no fun having a soggy salad.
- Sprinkle the toasted crunchy bits over the shredded cabbage, pour on most of the dressing and toss together, hold back some dressing to ensure that the salad is not over dressed, every cabbage is a different size.
