Spicy Cabbage Crunch Salad

I came up with this recipe when I needed to make a big salad to bring to a brunch. I wanted to make it the night before, and I had a big green cabbage in the fridge, so I decided to build on that. Once chopped, a head of cabbage is A LOT. It will soften nicely and shrink down in the salty / acidic dressing, but still hold some crunch for a couple days. The jalapeño and green onions give a nice kick, and the cashews add a little extra crunch along with healthy fats and protein. If you are making this ahead of time, you can wait and add the dressing before serving or add it when you make it to let all the flavors meld together.

Ingredients:

Salad:

• 1 large head green cabbage

• 2 cups raw cashews

• 2 large jalapeño peppers

• 8 green onions

• 1 bunch cilantro

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice

• 1/2 cup Tamari soy sauce

• 2/3 cup sesame oil

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Method:

Prepare all the salad components and place them in a large bowl. Remove the outer leaves and core and chop the cabbage. I like to leave the cabbage on the thicker side for this salad so that the pieces hold up to the dressing. Roughly chop the cashews. Wash and thinly slice the green onions, both white and green parts. Cut open the jalapeños, remove most of the seeds and the white inner flesh and finely dice them. Wash and dry the cilantro, remove any thick stems and chop up the bunch.

Set the salad aside and prepare the dressing. Pour all the ingredients into a large glass measuring cup and whisk them together until thoroughly mixed. For the sesame oil, I use unrefined cold-pressed sesame oil with a dash of toasted sesame oil for flavor. Depending on the size of your cabbage and your preference, you may not need the entire batch of dressing. When you’re ready to dress the salad, drizzle about 1 cup of dressing onto the salad and mix thoroughly. At this point, taste the salad and decide if you want to add more dressing. Any leftover dressing can be refrigerated in a glass jar and stored for about a week.

If you’d like a smaller salad, just use half a head of cabbage and halve everything else. I think it’s worth making the bigger batch because this will store well for at least three days.