Cold dishes are a common appetizer in China, especially in Beijing. All menus have a variety of these cold dishes just as sure as you’ll find mozzarella sticks, wings, and potato skins at a Friday’s. While having a weekday lunch at a regular place I frequent, I decided to order a shredded cabbage dish to get my daily dose of veggies along with my jiaozi (boiled dumplings).
I was surprised when the tower of vibrant purple cabbage arrived glistening with sauce and all these little crunchy fried scallions. Needless to say, my lunch cohorts and I cleared that little plate pretty quickly.
Over time, I had forgotten about this dish, but something sparked in my mind as I was thinking about all those wild spring onions probably growing on our lawn back home. I used to just mow them down with the tractor, but then I got wise and harvested them.
They were aromatic, flavorful and tasted quite a lot like garlicky scallions. In any event, I decided that they were ok to eat since we cut out the lawn fertilizer a while ago to raise our backyard chickens and also to save the Maryland blue crabs (at Sarah’s insistence).
The point is, between thinking about the fact that I don’t have to mow the lawn anymore, and reminiscing about the NJ wild spring onion harvest, I was reminded of that red cabbage salad with crispy spring onions. And that bizarre train of thought is what led to this red cabbage salad.
Recipe Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the cabbage and carrots. Rinse the potato sticks in cold water to remove some of the starch and use a kitchen towel to dry them really well.
Do the same with the scallion. In a shallow pan, fry the scallions and potatoes in oil until crisp. Drain on paper towels.
Combine all the dressing ingredients (honey, sesame oil, vegetable oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic powder, salt, cumin, and five spice powder), and toss with the cabbage and carrots.
Put the salad in a bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds, cilantro, and the fried potatoes and scallions. Serve!
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Recipe
Red Cabbage Salad w/ Crispy Spring Onions and Potato Sticks
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 5 cups red cabbage (shredded)
- 1 medium carrot (cut into matchsticks)
- 1 potato (cut into matchsticks)
- 1 scallion (cut into thin strips)
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (toasted)
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (chopped; optional)
For the dressing:
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 ½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- salt (to taste)
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the cabbage and carrots. Rinse the potato sticks in cold water to remove some of the starch and use a kitchen towel to dry them really well. Do the same with the scallion. In a shallow pan, fry the scallions and potatoes in oil until crisp. Drain on paper towels.
- Combine all the dressing ingredients and toss with the cabbage and carrots. Put the salad in a bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds, cilantro, and the fried potatoes and scallions. Serve!
