Dr.'s Kitchen Monday: Heads Up--Vietnamese Cole Slaw

Dr's Kitchen today is going to be a heads up and a reprint of yesterday's recipe, reworked.  When I took my salad into work last night and showed it to my friend, Yung, who is actually Vietnamese, she said it was very similar to salad she's been making her whole life, with one exception. She crinkled her nose at the oil in the dressing. She said that she never uses any oil in the dressing, that the oil is "an American thing".  I think she's right. I don't think, in this, it would be missed at all.

So here is a reprint of the recipe, re-engineered a little for those of us on formal diets, and including the nutrition counts:

Nigella Lawson's Vietnamese Cole Slaw

--Reworked by Glenna

For dressing, combine:

2 red chilies, finely chopped with or without the seeds

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsps sugar Splenda

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

3 Tbsp or juice of  1 lime

4 Tbsp fish sauce

(Available at Price Cutter. I'm sure there will be people who will turn up their noses at buying this at the grocery store and tell me this isn't the best fish sauce on the market but I don't have time to go to an Asian grocery right at this point in my life just for a bottle of fish sauce so it will have to do.  The dressing tasted great to me and when my Vietnamese friend tasted it, her only comments were that I did a good job but next time leave out the oil to make it more authentic. That's all she said, surprisingly to me, not "Where'd you get the bad fish sauce, dork?")

3 Tbsps vegetable oil

black pepper

Toss dressing with onion and turkey and leave to marinate for 15 minutes:

1 red onion, sliced thinly into rings

4 cups cold shredded turkey breast

For the salad base:

Red, green, or mix of the two, cabbage (approx 1 1/2 lbs), chopped

8 oz. radishes, sliced

5 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Toss dressing/poultry mixture with salad base.  Chill for 1/2 hour or more. Serve.

Makes 8 cups.

Per 1 cup serving:   Calories 145;  Protein 22; Carbs  8; Fat <1

This is going to be on my menu often!

Nigella Lawson's Vietnamese Cole Slaw

--Reworked by Glenna

For dressing, combine:

2 red chilies, finely chopped with or without the seeds

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsps sugar Splenda

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

3 Tbsp or juice of  1 lime

4 Tbsp fish sauce

(Available at Price Cutter. I'm sure there will be people who will turn up their noses at buying this at the grocery store and tell me this isn't the best fish sauce on the market but I don't have time to go to an Asian grocery right at this point in my life just for a bottle of fish sauce so it will have to do.  The dressing tasted great to me and when my Vietnamese friend tasted it, her only comments were that I did a good job but next time leave out the oil to make it more authentic. That's all she said, surprisingly to me, not "Where'd you get the bad fish sauce, dork?")

3 Tbsps vegetable oil

black pepper

Toss dressing with onion and turkey and leave to marinate for 15 minutes:

1 red onion, sliced thinly into rings

4 cups cold shredded turkey breast

For the salad base:

Red, green, or mix of the two, cabbage (approx 1 1/2 lbs), chopped

8 oz. radishes, sliced

5 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Toss dressing/poultry mixture with salad base.  Chill for 1/2 hour or more. Serve.

Makes 8 cups.

Per 1 cup serving:   Calories 145;  Protein 22; Carbs  8; Fat <1

This is going to be on my menu often!

Comments

[kalyn]

I love it, but I might have to keep in a teensy bit of oil. (I know, that's why Asians are so skinny.)

[egoldstein]

try a small amount (1/2 tsp) of sesame oil, lots of flavor, a bit of the round mouthfeel from the oil, but with far less fat. this makes it more Chinese, and less Vietnamnese

[sher]

(Whisper) That's the very same brand of fish sauce I use--and I love it. :):) Yeah! Fish sauce rules!!!! Interesting smel, no? :)

[Glenna]

Kalyn--go for it!

egoldstein--thanks for the tip!

Sher---Yay! Fish sauce rules!

[page]

i do a similar salad with a very similar dressing to your modified version, but i use chili oil in place of the chilies and oil, and then the salad base is cabbage, red onion, thinly sliced red pepper and thai basil... which is how i learned to make it in thailand! go figure!

[Glenna]

Sounds very similar! Thanks, Page.