Warm toasted almonds, sesame seeds and Ramen noodles tossed in a crispy cabbage blend makes this salad completely irresistible. This family recipe has been passed around, shared and loved by everyone who tries it. It’s the perfect addition to any meal…heck, it’s delicious as a meal itself!
I started collecting recipes when I was in high school. I actually enjoyed cooking way back then, but didn’t know just how much my passion would grow until after I was married (just a few years later). Everyone makes the assumption that I must have a mother who instilled that passion in me, that I must have grown up with an abundance of home cooked family meals. Not the case. My mom actually hates to cook (with a passion) and will avoid it like the plague. She has even proclaimed herself “The Frozen Food Queen”. She was only doing the best she could, I know that, but I made a promise to myself, before having kids, that I would never buy or serve frozen meals to my kids. You can imagine the horror when my husband came home from Costco a few years ago after buying frozen chicken pot pies. In bulk. And then tried to hide them in our freezer in the garage! It didn’t make any sense to me why he would buy them…my homemade chicken pot pie is one of my kids favorite meals AND it’s not gluten free so he can’t even eat it! Ugh, what was he thinking? Well, I know what I was thinking… return it! Get it OUT of my freezer! Fast! And because he is a loving husband who would never want to insult me, he did. And all was right in the world again.
This salad recipe was one of those recipes I collected in high school. It is one I never get tired of eating. It uses cabbage, not lettuce, for an extra crispy, fresh taste. The stars of the dish are the toasted sesame seeds, almonds and Ramen noodles. Yep, Ramen noodles people. Didn”t think you’d ever buy them again after your collage days were over? Well go get yourself some, again. You’ve never had Ramen like this before!
Ingredients
- 1 16 oz bag shredded red and green cabbage
- 1 C scallions or green onion, chopped
- 2 3 oz packages of Ramen noodles
- 1 small pack of sliced almonds
- 4 T sesame seeds
- 1/4 C white wine vinegar
- 3/4 C olive oil
- PAM olive oil spray
- 2 T soy sauce
- 1/2 C sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- On a baking sheet, mix together sesame seeds and almonds. Crunch up uncooked Ramen noodles, using your hands, breaking them up over the baking pan. Spread out evenly over the pan.
- With the PAM olive oil spray, lightly spray the seeds, almond and noodles and place in oven for
- 3-5 minutes. Be sure to watch closely. Take out of oven a toss with spatula and place back in the oven for another 3-5 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- On stove top over medium heat, mix together olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir frequently until sugar is dissolved and let cool.
- Combine cabbage, Ramen mixture and cooled vinaigrette before serving. Serve immediately.
- ** Add dressing a little at a time into the salad. You want it lightly coated, not soaking wet.
