Asian Salad

For the past week, I have been really busy at work and at home. Mr G went away for work so I didn't really have much motivation to cook or bake. He is my main motivator to do so. Each time, I see him savour the food I made, it gives me real delight. Yes you may have guessed it by now. My love languages are words of affirmation and acts of service. If you have heard of Gary Chapman, you are on the right track. Nope, I'm not promoting for his book but I'm just saying it's a nice book to read since everyone has different love languages and would like to be loved differently.

At IHCC, we have been cooking/baking with Jacques Pepin, an internationally known French chef. But this week, we have been asked to cook/bake something non-French. At first, I had wild ideas to make asian pork, peking chicken etc. Finally I decided to make a simple Asian salad from Jacques Pepin's Essential Pepin. It is so easy you wouldn't even think much of it. But the flavours that went along with it was literally superb. When you see below, you will know why. See my comments/modifications in blue.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 tsp tabasco (I used 1 tsp since I love tabasco and spicy kick)

1 tsp brown sugar

3 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped

2 tbsp sesame oil

8 oz savoy cabbage

1/2 cup carrots, julienned

Method:

1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a ziploc bag large enough to hold the cabbage and carrots.
2. Add the cabbage and toss it with the dressing. Allow the mixture to macerate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.
3. Transfer the salad and dressing to a serving bowl. Sprinkle with the carrots and serve.

I did a simple thing to just simply toss the cabbage and carrots together and then pouring the dressing all over the salad and toss it well. Thereafter, I let the salad sit in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator before serving. Guess what? This salad serves well with bbq meat and that is exactly what I did. I pan fried some bbq korean meat and it was superb.

I'm submitting this to I Heart Cooking Clubs - Out of France.