The Cooking Ninja

My mother-in-law found this delicious salad recipe from one of my books and made it for her guests. It was a great success and her guests couldn't get enough of it. So when we came back from Singapore, she made this for us and I was also so enthusiastic about it that I decided to try it on my own. This salad includes red cabbage and Chinese cabbage.

I discovered the colour of the red cabbage changes depending on the pH (acidity) of the soil. The more acid the soil is, the more leaves turn reddish... but if the soil is alkaline, it produces greenish-yellow coloured cabbages instead. It is said that the juice of red cabbage can be used as a home-made pH indicator. Interestingly, the red cabbage will turn blue upon cooking but it will retain its colour if vinegar or acidic fruit is added to the pot. The red cabbage is a seasonal plant and is planted in spring and harvest in late fall.

The Chinese cabbage is also known as Napa cabbage and originates from China, near the Beijing region. It is used to make the most common type of kimchi in Korean cuisine.

This my contribution for this Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Wondering Chopsticks.

Salad with Thai Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion (finely sliced)
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp
• 6 cloves garlic (sliced)
• 2 cups red cabbage (shredded)
• 2 cups Chinese cabbage (shredded)
• ¼ cup unsalted roasted peanuts (chopped)
• salt

Dressing

• 2 tsp soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• ½ tsp black peppercorn (cracked)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves & stems (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce

Directions

1. Mix the sliced onion and a bit of salt in a colander. Leave it for 30 minutes. Then rinse and drain well.
2. Soak the dried shrimps in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and chop finely.
3. Heat oil in a small pan and fry the sliced garlic until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.
4. Combine the onion, shrimp and half of the fried garlic with the shredded red and Chinese cabbage in a large salad bowl.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.
6. Sprinkle the remaining fried garlic and chopped peanuts on the salad before serving it.

Make the Dressing

• Combine sugar, lime juice, peppercorns, coriander, crushed garlic and fish sauce in a food processor and blend until smooth.

The Verdict

I love how the taste of fresh salad goes so well with the dressing. The onions gives the salad the biting taste while crunchiness of the peanuts, the coriander and garlic (not too overpowering) lends its wonderful flavour to the salad.

Notes

To make things simpler, I just blended the dried shrimps, roasted peanuts together with the dressing ingredients.

For those who do not like to eat big chunk of garlic, you can crush the fried garlic and sprinkle it all over the salad.

To vary the salad, I would suggest adding some bean sprouts and cooked French beans etc.

My search for this recipe started about 5 years ago when I had a similar dish at my friend's place. I meant to ask her for the recipe but forgot about it by the end of the evening. Then one day I stumbled upon this recipe by accident : I do not know if it is exactly the same as my friend's but when I did it, it had a similar taste and fragrance. I hadn't made this for 3 years but after my green Thai curry, I had a sudden craving for Thai food and since Pierre didn't recall ever having it, I decided to have another go at it

Glass Noodles Salad

Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Makes: 4

Ingredients

• 80 g glass noodles (soaked in water to soften)
• 60 g chicken (finely minced)
• 20 g black fungus/wood ear (cut into fine strips)
• ½ medium onion (sliced)
• 1 tbsp Chinese celery (chopped)
• 1 tsp Chinese parsley/coriander (chopped)
• 12 fresh prawns (shelled and devined)
• 1 tsp chili oil

Sauce

• 3 red and green Bird's eye chili (seeded and chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 4 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1½ tbsp sugar

Directions

1. Boil the glass noodles in a pot of boiling water for about 1 minute.
2. Add in black fungus, minced chicken and prawns and boil it for another minute, stirring it often. Then drain well.
3. Pour the sauce and chili oil over glass noodle salad together with the sliced onions and toss it well.
4. Serve it with some chopped celery and parsley.

The verdict

This salad is very refreshing and aromatic. I love the aroma of freshly squeezed lime juice mixed with fish sauce with a tint of spicy sourness. The coriander and the onions enhance the taste of this salad further. Pierre likes it almost cold, so I ran it through cold tap water after step 2, before adding the sauce to cool it down.

For the vegetarians, I think this dish would be wonderful also with tofu, enoki (Japanese mushrooms) and bean sprouts - that's all I can think of at the moment.

Note

Bird's eye chili are very hot, hotter than fresh cayenne pepper. So if you are not used to that amount of spiciness, substitute it with cayenne chili or some other chili that is milder. Also dried chillies are hotter than fresh ones.