Friday, April 10, 2009

Ramen Ichiban Cabbage Salad

Ramen Ichiban Cabbage SaladJust make this salad, which is a potluck favorite. You don't want to know why it's so delicious. In fact, you may not want to make it after finding out. But if you survived your college days with ramen (pronounced "rah-men") instant noodle soup, having raw vegetables with it will be a big improvement.

I brought this salad to a friend's house last week for dinner, and everyone had seconds and asked for the recipe, which is exactly what I did the first time I had this salad at a potluck.

We ate ramen instant noodle soup many times while growing up. After a busy work day, mom or dad would boil some water, throw in the noodles, and three minutes later supper was ready, sometimes with a poached egg or peanut butter toast to round out the meal.

This salad is a show stopper because it's sweet, salty, sour, bitter and even has umami from the instant ramen noodles and texture from the nuts, seeds and raw vegetables. Just don't remind people that instant noodle soup's first three ingredients are salt, MSG and sugar. Potlucks are meant to be fun and salads are supposed to be healthy.

Recipe

Serves 8

Ingredients for Ramen Ichiban Cabbage Salad
½ small red cabbage, shredded or coarsely chopped
¼ small- to medium-sized cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1-2 cups broccoli florets, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, shredded

1 package
Sapporo Ichiban Ramen soup noodles, crushed
(use Original, red and white package)
(You must use this brand!)
½ cup slivered almonds, toasted
¼ cup sesame seeds or sunflower seeds, toasted

For the Dressing:
½ cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
Spice package from Sapporo Ichiban Ramen soup noodles
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix vegetables in a salad bowl. In a jar, shake the dressing ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss crushed noodles, nuts, seeds and dressing with vegetables just before serving.

Ramen Ichiban Cabbage Salad
"Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.
Give him ramen noodles, and you don’t have to teach him anything."
— Lawrence Downes in The New York Times

Links to Other Ramen Salads
• Andrea's Recipes: Simi Salad (aka Ramen Noodle Salad)
• Big Red Kitchen: Broccoli Ramen Salad
• The Kitchn: Sesame Cabbage Salad

Links to Other information about Ramen
• Movie: Tampopo
• Ramenlicious: History of Ramen Noodles
• The Ramen Blog and Other Goodies: Ramen Rating: Sapporo Ichiban

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  • 22 comments:

    Kit Chen said...

    Oh man, the best part of instant ramen is the spice package. I could lick that stuff up all day long. Yah, I just destroyed my foodie cred right there.

    Kristen said...

    yummy! I can imagine the flavors and crunch just from the photos.
    As a kid I can remember eating salads similar to this, they were my grandmother's favorite so she tried many variations. It seems that this combination, so different from the bowl of noodles, is always a hit.
    Thanks for reminding me of this lovely salad. I look forward to trying your version.

    Steph said...

    That looks soo good!! I love Ramen. The salad looks so nice and colourful.

    Irene said...

    I love it!!! I used to boil up some Ramen noodles with an onion and herbs with some water and vegetable broth for a quick soup after a long day at work.

    The Cutting Edge of Ordinary said...

    I have been making this salad for years and years. We call it the Man Salad, I have no clue why. I always use the Oriental Flavor, I like that best. It is fantastic isn't it, but not so good the 2nd day. Solution - eat is all in one day! Yum!

    Monica H said...

    So colorful and pretty and Spring-like!

    LOVE that picture of your cabbage. It all looks so good!

    Happy Easter!

    test it comm said...

    That salad looks good! Interesting way of using the ramen noodles.

    Eliana said...

    What an awesome looking salad. I bet it has lots of crunch from the veggies (which I love).

    Anonymous said...

    Sounds yummy! The raw vegetables must make up for whatever bad stuff is in the spice package... :P

    Audrey said...

    Ooh. I went to a potluck last fall and someone made a ramen salad. We've been trying to find a similar recipe ever since! This could be it! Thanks for sharing it.

    Sunei said...

    What a colorful salad! I love the photo of the cross-section of the purple cabbage!! And the NY Times quote!! Fun, fun, fun!

    NKP said...

    I do get a ramen craving now and agian, it really does hit the spot! I usually dress it up a bit, but I have never made a salad out of it, very creative!

    Anonymous said...

    LOVE the macro cabbage as the background to your ingredients! Creative!

    Treehouse Chef said...

    This salad is awesome! We have it at all of our holiday dinners. A few years ago I stopped using the instant flavor package due to the sodium content and started using a mix of spices, EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Everyone loves it!

    Sippity Sup said...

    What page of the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home is this on? I am desperately perusing a copy and cannot seem to find it? Did I get a defective book? GREG

    Elyse said...

    Oh man, Shari, this looks delicious. So much better than the plain ole ramen from my college days. I love eating "adult" ramen. What a great looking salad!

    The Food Librarian said...

    I love this salad. I make it all the time and agree that Ichiban is the best brand to use! :) It's best not to know what's in the spice pack...completely agree!

    Manggy said...

    Number one indeed! I'm not an ingredient snob so I say, bring it on. (Okay, maybe I just have a bias for Asian convenience food!) Looks super-delicious!! :)

    Jeff said...

    I worked with a lady who use to make this every potluck. I was in heaven and would be first to rob the fridge before everyone got a taste.

    Happy to know it really is that easy.

    La Bella Cooks said...

    So colorful and delicious! Can't beat that combination!

    Ashley Bartner said...

    you're killing me - that looks/sounds soo good! we can't get anything ethnic like this in italy!

    Japanese Superfood Chef Mihoko said...

    looks delicious!
    I'll try to make it.
    From Japan:)