We have been making this salad for years in my family. Instead of cider vinegar we use seasoned rice vinegar and instead of vegatable oil we use peanut oil. Never put dressing in the fridge. You must heat the dressing to a boil to make sure the sugar is dissolved. I always use at least 2-3packages of ramen noodles and slivered almonds. And to cook the crunchies I use 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons of butter. Always add crunchies after you have mixed the dressing in. I have used coleslaw salad instead of napa in a hurry and no one ever complains. However napa is the best.
I have just about had it with people changing the recipes and writing about it in the reviews/ratings. Just make it a new recipe and post it under a new name! This is a great salad! I have been making this salad for several years and always get rave reviews. I have had more requests for this recipe than I can count. I always use 1/4 cup of butter, melt it in a skillet and brown the almonds, sesame seeds and noodles. Increase the noodles to two packages, minus the seasoning package. The noodles are better if you break them up well, I put them in a plastic bag and break them with a rolling pin, just don't pulverize them. Use sliced almonds rather than silvered almonds. The dressing is much better if it is heated and boiled for the 1 minute, it dissolves the sugar. This salad is just not the same without the Napa cabbage. I cut the whole cabbage in half, cut each half three times lengthwise, then slice it across in about 1/2 inch slices. This works well for me. I must stress to let everything cool before mixing with the cabbage. Mix at the last minute before serving because the crunchies will get soggy, as stated in other reviews.
5-Stars just as written! No doctoring up required. I did feel there was a tad more butter than necessary for the crunchies (but maybe that's just me). I can see where this would be an easy "make ahead" dish to transport to an event and assemble just before serving. Adding this one to my "Favorites" List. UPDATE: I have found a way to "lighten" this salad without losing any of the flavors: I spray the crunchies with butter spray before I bake them & use brown sugar Splenda in place of the sugar. Other than the oil, you have a Weight Watcher's friendly meal on your hands. A regular in our house now. My teenaged son loves it too and the dressing is GREAT on baked chicken!
Hearing people rate this recipe but switching everything only makes it sound confusing to me. My husband made this for me and he FOLLOWED the RECIPE EXACTLY! WE BOTH LOVED IT! We were both pleasantly surprised how well the ingredients blended together. WE WILL MAKE AGAIN JUST AS IS! Thanks.
Perfect potluck dish for traveling! Here's how: make the dressing at home let it cool and pour into a leakproof container and seal the container in a ziplock bag. Gladlocks will leak! Toast the crunchies on the stovetop (in REAL butter never the stuff in the tub!) and put crunchies in a container or quart-size ziplock bag. When you toast the nuts in real butter (not margarine) as the butter browns the nuts become a little bit salty and they offset the sweetness of the dressing. Do NOT use the seasoning packet; too much unhealthy sodium and MSG. Throw it away it was only twenty cents and you're doing your body a favor. Nuts are heart- healthy; we prefer a mixture of pine nuts sunflower seeds and sliced almonds because they look better and add texture. Use your nicest large bowl and tongs and use the pre-shredded bag-o-cabbage to save time. When you arrive at your destination put the cabbage in the bowl. As people line up to eat add the dressing a can of drained mandarin oranges 1/2 cup of dried cranberries (Craisins) and the crunchies. Stir well to coat everything but don't add the dressing too early or it gets soggy. This salad does not do well as a leftover. Thanks for the post!
Delicious! I didn't change a thing on the first try but I will next time. I am in the camp that says "you can't have too much butter" but 1/2 cup really IS too much. I think 1/4 would be plenty since with 1/2 I had to spoon the ingredients out of the butter and drain on paper towels. The sweet dressing is a refreshing change of pace. I'd like to add a sliced up grilled chicken breast and make it a whole meal and will try with peanuts for my almond allergic sibling next time.
This salad is delicious! The only 2 things I did different is cut the oil to only 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 and it did not change it a bit. I also cut back on the butter to mix the ramen noodles almonds and seseme with. It tasted great to me. Everyone who has ever been served this loves it.
This is an excellent salad! I brought this to a potluck at work and the bowl was wiped clean! I did make modifications but I do that with almost all recipes. I used pre-shredded cole slaw mix instead of the cabbage. I doubled the recipe and added shredded chicken and a can of manarin oranges. I also reduced the vinegar by an 1/8 of a cup and replaced it with Mandarin orange juice that I drained off the oranges. The crunchies were fantastic! The only thing that I did differently is that when toasting the crunchies I sprinked about 1 teaspoon of the seasoning packet from the ramen noodles over it and mixed well (I used the chicken flavor). This added just a touch of saltiness to them which matched perfectly with the sweet and sour dressing. This was a hit!
Really good. I used cabbage from my garden. I didn't have almonds so I added extra sesame seeds. I also used on 1/2 the butter and 1/2 the sugar. The dressing was still REALLY sweet. It was tasty but it would be great with less sugar too.
Did not really like. Break up ramen noodles before you open them. Expensive for what you end up with. Highin calories low in flavor.
