Simple recipe

This coleslaw is FANTASTIC! I was really skeptical when my friend Mary Sutherland sent me this recipe, since I’ve never in my life bought instant Ramen noodles. But Mary, who is an excellent cook, has been making it for years and said her daughters (who are in college) love it! With a leap of faith, I purchased the ingredients and decided to give it a go.

(First, a note of caution: Instant Ramen noodles are most definitely not on the healthy end of the food chain. On occasion this is a tasty splurge, but I would caution anyone against a regular diet of Ramen noodles.)

Coleslaw is a salad made with either red or white shredded cabbage as its base. You can then add a variety of different vegetables like carrots, celery, onion, etc. A mayonnaise or vinaigrette dressing binds everything together. There are an infinite number of recipes available for every palate.

This is a very versatile recipe, as it can be eaten as a side dish, main dish, or just a snack.

There are five quick steps involved in making this recipe:

1. Make the dressing
2. Toast the sliced almonds and the sesame seeds
3. Cut up the white part of four green onions
4. Mix together the coleslaw, noodles, almonds, sesame seeds and green onion.
5. Add the dressing and – that’s it!

Be sure to buy the “Chicken-flavor” Ramen noodles. To make things really simple, I purchased a pre-shredded bag of coleslaw mix (which is available in many supermarkets.)

If you prefer, you can easily shred your own head of cabbage to make the coleslaw. (Buy the white – not the red – cabbage for this recipe!) You will need approximately 6-8 cups of cabbage or coleslaw mix.

For those of you (like me!) who have never purchased Ramen noodles, it is a small “brick” of dried noodles that comes with a flavor packet. These noodles are not going to get cooked, but just broken up into the coleslaw. They add an amazing crunch to this dish.

Make the dressing first. You will need:

• 2 Tablespoons of sugar (or sweetener such as Equal, Sweet & Low, or aspertame)
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup of oil
• chicken flavor packet from the Ramen noodles

You could use a bowl and a whisk to mix everything together, but it is easier to just put everything in jar….

…and give it a good shake. Set it aside until the coleslaw gets made.

You can buy already toasted sesame seeds or toast them yourself.

To toast sesame seeds, put them in a dry fry pan. Set the temperature to medium high and don’t walk away from the stove. Keep the seeds moving in the pan by stirring them with a spoon or by shaking the pan. It takes just a minute or two for the seeds to go from untoasted…

…to toasted…

…to burnt in the blink of an eye! Once you start to smell the seeds toasting, they will only need a few more seconds to get nicely browned.

Toast the almonds the same way.

All toasted!

Wash four green onions and remove the green part. Slice the white part into small circles.

Put the cabbage (or coleslaw) in a large bowl. Add the almonds, green onions and sesame seeds.

With your hands, break up the (uncooked) Ramen noodles on top of the coleslaw. Gently mix everything together.

Just before serving add the dressing…

…and gently toss the salad.

Serve the salad immediately. If there are any leftovers, the Ramen noodles will eventually “soften” and the coleslaw will lose some of that crunchy texture.

This will easily make four large servings or 6 medium size servings.

Enjoy!

P.S.

For those of you interested in a few more elegant ways to cook with Ramen noodles,

Nika at Nikas Culinaria, made a beautiful Mexi-Cali Ramen served in mini-pumpkin bowls.

Elise at Simply Recipes made a more exotic coleslaw called Napa Cabbage Picnic Salad.

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