Cabbage carrot salad with peanut dressing

January 5, 2007 at 4:41 am (B_(3 stars, like), Cook's Illustrated, Cruciferous rich, East and SE Asia, Quick weeknight recipe, Salads, Sauce/dressing)

This is a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I’ve made a few times, and quite enjoy. It’s a piquant alternative to traditional coleslaw.

Ingredients:

1 pound green cabbage (about 1/2 medium head), shredded fine 1 large carrot , peeled and grated 2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter 2 tablespoons peanut oil 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon honey 2 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarse 1 1/2 inch piece ginger , peeled 1/2 jalapeño chile , halved and seeded 4 medium radishes , halved lengthwise and sliced thin 4 medium scallions , sliced thin

1. Shred the cabbage using the slicing blade of a food processor, or slice by hand. Grate the carrot in the food processor or by hand. Slice the radishes in the food processor or by hand.
2. In bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade, puree the peanut butter, oil, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, and jalapeño until smooth paste is formed.
3. Toss the cabbage and carrot, radishes, scallions, and dressing together in a medium bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes about 5-6 cups.

My Notes:

First let me say that I think Cook’s Illustrated’s obsession with salting and draining cabbage is absurd. Omitting that part of the recipe left a happy grin on my face. Even if you don’t eat the salad right away, and it waters down the dressing a tad, who cares? It’s worth it for the extra crispness, and for the time and bother saved. Okay, now that that’s covered….

I guess I had a very large head of cabbage because 1 pound was less than 1/4 of my cabbage. I used crunchy (natural) peanut butter, since that was all I had, and I thought it was just fine. I didn’t have peanut oil so substituted 1/4 Tbs. olive oil and 1/4 Tbs. toasted sesame oil. It probably would have been fine with no oil. I was out of honey so used maple syrup and accidentally used a whole Tbs. rather than just a tsp. Oops. It didn’t taste too sweet though. I started out trying to just mix the dressing with a fork, but that was a bad idea, so I got out my stick blender–much neater than messing the food processor. Of course, I could have prepped the cabbage and carrot in the processor, but I did them easily and quickly by hand. I didn’t have radishes so added an extra 4 ounces of cabbage.

I thought the salad was very pleasant. I had a big bowl–then another. Before I knew it I had finished all 6 cups of it. Oops again. I guess it probably deserves more than a “just pleasant”, huh? Or maybe I was just hungry…

Rating: B.