CUCUMBER, CHINESE CABBAGE & CASHEWS, Healthy, Vegetarian, Prepare Ahead

The body's demands for clean, light salads after Christmas will be happily satisfied with this wallet-friendly bowl.   

A cleansing, refreshing salad: Cucumber, Chinese Cabbage & Cashews

Today's recipe is based on Chinese Cabbage (also known as Chinese Leaves) often used in Asian cuisine but popular in California.  

A head of Chinese Cabbage

The vegetable consists of delicately sweet crisp white stalks topped with crinkly leaves.  They grow wrapped tight as a drum.

Dense textured

First cultivated 5 centuries ago in China, Chinese Cabbage is rich in Vitamin C and other minerals. It's mild flavour and double texture was so adored by modern Californians, they produced their own version, Napa cabbage. 






UK grown Chinese Cabbage is available in most large supermarkets but the best are found in Chinatowns (though some is imported from Europe). It costs about £2 a head but there's plenty of it, certainly enough for several meals.  It keeps well in cool temperatures.  

Chinese Cabbage is underused in the UK, mainly because many people aren't sure what to do with it.  

Salads are the obvious choice; today's Cucumber, Chinese Leaves & Cashews is simple but tasty.  However Chinese cabbage is also gorgeous stir-friend with ginger, garlic and a bit of honey, or added to stir fries or soups in the last stages of cooking.

Cost: £1
Feeds: 4-6 

Ingred:
   6 oz/ 170 gm Chinese cabbage
   6 oz/ 170 gm cucumber 

   2 handsful lightly salted, roasted cashews, coarsely chopped (see recipe for roasting raw cashews in Tips, below)

   Chinese dressing (see below)
     
Method:

1. Slice leafy bits of the cabbage in 1/2 in/1cm pieces and the white stalk in 1/4 in/1/2 cm slices; soak in cold lightly salted water 20 mins; drain and rinse
2. Cut cucumber in half vertically; remove seeds with a teaspoon; slice in moon shapes 1/4 in/1/2 cm slices
3. Mix thoroughly in a large bowl
4. Add dressing
5. Refrigerate up to a few hours
6. Mix in cashews, saving some for garnish

Oriental Dressing: 

     2 1/2 tbsp olive oil
    1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar/dry sherry/white wine/grape juice
    1 tsp reduced salt soy sauce (Amoy or Pearl River Bridge)
    1/3 tsp toasted sesame oil 
    1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice (opt)
    1 tbsp maple syrup or honey
    1/2 tsp 5 spice powder (or cinnamon) (opt)
    1 small clove garlic, grated or minced
    1 tsp grated fresh ginger or 1/4 tsp dried 
    1 small chilli, de-seeded & membranes removed, in fine dice OR 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
     pepper & salt

Pour all ingred into a jar with a tight fitting lid; shake until thick and emulsified, i.e. no separate ingred is visible.  Check seasoning.


Tips:

• the salad was still excellent after a night in the fridge
• for a creamy version of the dressing, add 3 tbsp yoghurt & 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• to roast raw cashews, spread on a tray and bake at 350f/180c/170fan no more than 7 mins; turn nuts half way through; sprinkle lightly with salt.  Chop after nuts are cool.  
• if using packaged nuts, rub them with a paper serviette to reduce salt and fat

(Questions & comments, pls email  b67goingon50@yahoo.co.uk 

and say if they can be included in the blog)

This recipe has  been developed by B M Lee/ Bright Sun Enterprises.  It may not be reproduced without the author's written permission.