Today we’re going beyond watery diner salads, sporting browning lettuce, one measly crouton, a white-washed tomato, and a solitary red onion ring.
(Thank goodness)
Instead we’re loading our chopsticks with fresh, spicy ginger, salty fish sauce, fried lentils and chickpeas, chickpea flour, peanuts cabbage… and… and… so much happy goodness. This is a bouquet of flavor that sounds more … quirky.. than it really is.
This Burmese salad is extremely well balanced, which surprised me. No one flavor dominates the other. The chickpeas and lentils add protein, the cabbage binds everything together, the ginger is the occasional spicy bite, and even the fish sauce simply adds a salty dressing when combined with the bright acidity of lime juice and lemons.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 4 people | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 6-8 minutes | 8 hours |
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Today we’re going beyond watery diner salads, sporting browning lettuce, one measly crouton, a white-washed tomato, and a solitary red onion ring.
(Thank goodness)
Instead we’re loading our chopsticks with fresh, spicy ginger, salty fish sauce, fried lentils and chickpeas, chickpea flour, peanuts cabbage… and… and… so much happy goodness. This is a bouquet of flavor that sounds more … quirky.. than it really is.
This Burmese salad is extremely well balanced, which surprised me. No one flavor dominates the other. The chickpeas and lentils add protein, the cabbage binds everything together, the ginger is the occasional spicy bite, and even the fish sauce simply adds a salty dressing when combined with the bright acidity of lime juice and lemons.
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Ingredients
- 1 thumb ginger root , peeled and sliced in tiny matchsticks
- 1/4 cup lemon juice – OR –
- lime juice
- 3 cups napa cabbage (finely shredded)
- 2 Tbsp chickpea flour , toasted in a dry skillet
Dressing:
- fish sauce
Garnish:
- handful fresh cilantro , torn
- crushed peanuts
- green onions , sliced
- 1 lime , sliced
- 1 lemon , sliced
- red pepper flakes
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
Soak:
- In the cool, calm evening, prepare the first few ingredients. Soak the ginger in lemon or lime juice, and soak the dried chickpeas and lentils in water overnight. Be sure that ginger is sliced fine, fine, fine.
- The next morning, squeeze out the ginger (Tip: add the lime/lemon juices to some hot water, vodka and honey for a lovely sipper). Next, rub the chickpeas and lentils down in a fuzzy towel.
Fry:
- Fry the chickpeas and lentils in peanut oil until golden brown, about five minutes. Add the garlic slivers and cook until golden brown (about 1 minute). Finally, toss on the sesame seeds and fry for just 1 minute.
- Begin shredding the cabbage. I only needed 1/3 of a small napa cabbage for this salad. If you have some chickpea flour, toast it in a dry skillet (if you don’t, buy some! you can use the rest to make the wonderful crepes we cooked for our Global Table for Monaco.) It’ll turn chestnut brown after a few minutes; stir continually to keep the flour from burning.
Assembly:
- Next, add the cabbage, the fried lentil mixture (be sure to scrape in all that good peanut oil), and toasted chickpea flour to a large bowl. Splash on a good douse of fish sauce. Traditionally, you would toss this salad with your hands which, if you are open to it, is a really great way to be sure it gets mixed thoroughly.
- Garnish with green onion, crushed peanuts, lemon and lime slices (which your guests should liberally squeeze all over their salad), and cilantro. Or, for a fun dinner experience, let everyone garnish their own salads with whatever they’d like.
- I find this tastes best after a thirty minute rest in the refrigerator, at which time it’ll have soaked up much of the fish sauce and will likely need a refresher.