A Good Shredded Salad Recipe
One of the things I love about having a work studio is our location. It means that most days, at one point or another, I find myself standing in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. This is a shredded salad inspired by the neighborhood - lots of cabbage and scallions, tossed with soy sauce, honey, and cilantro, and amount of crunch toasted peanuts, and celery.
One of the things I love about having a work studio is our location. It means most days, at one point or another, I find myself standing in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. It's a neighborhood in transition spanning a handful of steeply sloping blocks east to west, from the dragon gate at Bush Street north to Broadway. There's a new subway stop scheduled to open in the coming years, and a good number of cranes reaching skyward to facilitate the construction of new buildings. My hope was that we'd have a Chinatown dispatch ready to follow our summer one, but here it is, summer gone, and it's not quite ready. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a few photos, and this beauty of a salad inspired by the much-loved, shredded cabbage composition found on a good number of menus in the the area surrounding Grant Avenue - green layered on green layered on green. It is all about the play between shredded ingredients like cabbage and scallions, and crunch from ingredients like cabbage, and peanuts, and celery.
A couple of side notes - This salad works nicely with shredded green cabbage or purple. Just be sure to do a nice, fine shred. Also, if sprouts are hard to come by for you, substitute so chopped herbs - I did a nice version with basil the other night.
I'm off on a trip for the this week - hoping to have pics and inspiration to share when I return. -h
A Good Shredded Salad
2 teaspoons sunflower oil
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons runny honey
fine grain sea salt, to taste
one small bunch of cilantro (leaves and stems), chopped
1/2 cup peanuts, toasted
1 bunch of scallions, shredded
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1/2 cup mung bean sprouts
1/2 cup broccoli or pea sprouts
3 large stalks celery, thinly sliced on diagonal
2 tablespoons shoyu or soy sauce
1 tablespoon (brown) rice vinegar
toasted sesame seeds, black or white
In a medium bowl, stir together the sunflower oil, sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of the honey, and a generous pinch of sea salt. Add the cilantro, peanuts, and scallions. Stir well to combine. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine the cabbage, mung bean sprouts, broccoli or pea sprouts, and celery.
In another bowl, stir together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and remaining 2 teaspoons of honey. Stir to combine, pour over the vegetables, and toss to coat. Add half the cilantro-peanut mixture, toss again, and transfer to a serving dish. Top with the remaining cilantro relish and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
Serves 4.
Prep time: 10 minutes
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This looks amazing! Particularly love the flavours you use for the dressing - can't wait to give this a try after grocery day :)
Full of flavor, and textures, what can be better!
This looks delicious! Do you think I could sub lime juice for the rice vinegar?
HS: I suspect it could be nice. Perhaps start with a bit less if you go that route, and make it to taste.
WIth a title like that how can one not make this salad. Happy Nesting.
This post brings back memories of my last visit to San Fran's Chinatown - the sights and smells are amazing. This salad looks so delicate and scrumptious!
That area of San Francisco sounds like an exciting place to visit. The menu items look tast and cheap.
This looks wonderful, and I will be making it. Question, though... how do you shred scallions? Or can I just slice them as thinly as possible>
This is an INSANE salad! I made it to pack for lunches tomorrow but we ended up eating it for a late dinner. I subbed sui choy for cabbage and sliced, blanched green beans for mung bean sprouts, and I added cubed tofu. YUM! It's so good that we've decided to serve it for a dinner with friends on Monday and would like to pair it with one or two other salads, perhaps a grain one - quinoa or barley or...any suggestions, Heidi or other readers?
HS: Love hearing it Jul! I like the addition of tofu, or tofu salad on the side. It could also be good paired with a soba noodle option, or on top of soba. Its pretty flexible, I imagine mixed into a portion of quinoa could be good too. Have a great Monday with your friends!
Lovely, simple salad that screams healthy, i love it ! What I'm particularly fond of is the platter, so charming ! Where could I find that or is it an heirloom maybe..passed down from generations..?
This salad is right up my alley! I'm tempted to try it with Napa cabbage...I've been on a total Napa kick lately.
Lovely recipe--I have really been enjoying shredded salads lately. They just seem so much more substantial and delicious!
Can't wait for that Chinatown dispatch! (Your summer one was such a delight.) Enjoy your trip, wherever you find yourself gallivanting, and I'll see if a little of this green on green doesn't get me through my deadlines. Thanks!
This salad sounds like a dream. I'm picking up our CSA share today, and I'm crossing my fingers for cabbage! (
Your salads are so distinctly "you" I feel I could pick them out of a blog line-up, and this wonderful one is no exception! I am intrigued by the use of sunflower oil, have never used it but do enjoy walnut oil, sesame oil and avocado oil for the occasional treat in my salads. Also we have a wonderful sprout man at our Friday Venice Farmer's Market and Wednesday Santa Monica Farmer's Market who sells every kind of sprout you can imagine. Fabulous!
I still have great memories of a week visiting San Francisco and my hotel was in Chinatown. I would start my morning walking and discovering their food and culture. What a great place to have a studio.
So much good stuff in here. This salad looks lovely!
Double yum! I've enjoyed similar versions in the past. Looking forward to giving this a whirl. Thank you.
Lovely images and of course it looks delicious, as always!
So many lovely photos, and that salad! Wow! Love the play between the different shares of green, the Asian-dressing and the peanuts, mmmm :) x
I visited San Francisco a couple of years ago, and reading your post just took me back to my walks through the city, and also Chinatown….what a nice memory! I really like your salad, I think it goes nicely with a whole bunch of meals. Amazing plate, by the way!
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