Asian Chopped Cabbage Salad

Chopped cabbage, red bell pepper, carrots, green onion, and peanuts come together in this crunchy, colorful salad. Tossed in a sweet and savory Asian dressing, this salad is perfect for a potluck.

May 16, 2023

Before I share today’s recipe, I want to explain a couple of things about last week’s post introducing the Recipes Made Healthy Recipe Index. To minimize your search efforts, you can use the Recipe Index to locate recipes on my site in an instant. The index is found in the navigation bar. When you click on the Recipe Index tab, you’ll find all my recipes (with direct links) in one place organized by categories like Breads & Breakfast, Vegetables, Sandwiches & Slices, Seafood, and Pasta.

Some subscribers informed me that they didn’t see the navigation bar or Recipe Index and I wanted to explain why. Substack newsletters typically have two main page views – the website page view and the email page view. You get to the website page by going directly to recipesmadehealthy.substack.com. What you’ll see, as shown in the image below, is the navigation bar which displays the Recipe Index. In this view, just click on the Recipe Index to find all my recipes — simple, quick and easy!

If you subscribe to Recipes Made Healthy and you open your email to view a recipe, you will see a slightly different layout as shown in this next image. Notice the navigation bar and Recipe Index do not appear. From this view you can easily get to the Recipe Index by clicking on the Recipes Made Healthy font logo at the top of the page.

I hope this clears up the confusion. Please let me know what you think about this new Recipe Index by leaving a comment here.

Leave a comment

Now, back to the recipe of the day . . .

Today’s recipe features hoisin sauce, the main ingredient in the dressing for this chopped salad. Pronounced hoy-sin, this thick, reddish-brown sauce is made from fermented soybean paste, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, chili peppers, and various spices. The flavor is salty, sweet, and savory and the consistency is similar to a thick barbeque sauce. In fact, it’s sometimes referred to as “Chinese barbeque sauce.”

Hoisin sauce adds an authentic Asian flavor to all kinds of dishes including stir-fries, marinades for beef, pork and chicken, and noodle dishes. It’s an ingredient in dipping sauces for egg rolls and spring rolls. And it’s used as a condiment, straight out of the bottle like ketchup.

If you’re watching your sodium intake, be sure to check the nutrition label and choose the hoisin sauce with the least amount. One thing to take note of when comparing the sodium content of different brands of hoisin sauce is the serving size. Some brands list 1 tablespoon as the serving size, while others list the serving size as 2 tablespoons. I found quite a difference in sodium content between brands, ranging from 240 milligrams of sodium per tablespoon to 545 milligrams.

If you’re looking for a suitable substitute for hoisin sauce, there really isn’t a great option. Some people recommend using a garlic-flavored teriyaki sauce or a sweet barbeque sauce seasoned with sriracha and Chinese five-spice powder. I would avoid substituting soy sauce for hoisin sauce in this recipe as the sodium content would be off the charts. One tablespoon of soy sauce typically contains about 950 milligrams sodium.

You’ll find hoisin sauce in most grocery stores and Asian markets. Once opened, keep bottled hoisin in the refrigerator. If properly refrigerated, it should last for about a year.

To your health,

Darlene

ASIAN CHOPPED CABBAGE SALAD

Yield: 8 servings

Serving Size: 3/4 cup salad

Prep: 15 minutes

Ready: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons grated gingerroot
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
4 cups green cabbage, chopped
2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
1 cup julienned red bell pepper
1 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup sliced green onion, divided
1/3 cup lightly salted peanuts, roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS

To prepare salad dressing, whisk together hoisin sauce, rice vinegar, oil, honey, water, gingerroot, and sesame seeds in a small bowl and set aside.
To a large bowl, add green and red cabbage, red pepper, carrots, and 1/2 cup sliced green onion and toss. Just before serving add dressing and toss to coat. Place salad in a serving bowl and garnish top with remaining green onion and peanuts.

Cook’s note

There’s no need to mix the salad vegetables and dressing ahead of time. In fact, this salad is most flavorful when the dressing is mixed in just before serving. If you do have leftovers, no worries. Unlike leaf lettuce, the vegetables in this salad hold up really well once the dressing is added and will keep in the refrigerator for a couple days.

Nutrition Information per Serving

124 Calories, 7 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 0 mg Cholesterol, 163 mg Sodium, 14 g Total carbohydrate, 3 g Dietary fiber, 8 g Total sugars, 2 g Added sugars, 3 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 44 mg (4%) Calcium, 1 mg (6%) Iron, 247 mg (6%) Potassium