Asian style Coleslaw
SE Asian Style Coleslaw
It’s 12 months since we relocated to Brisbane. I had grand plans for my balcony garden then, declaring that I’d only grow edibles. Reality hit home when the tomatoes failed to flower, radishes only grew leaves and numerous pots of herbs robust by nature failed to thrive. Food crops need a lot more sunshine than they’ll ever get on my balcony.
Essentially it’s a room without a wall at the northern end, so in winter it’s flooded with sunshine, in summer all it gets is a narrow sliver hard against the half glazed edge. I’ve decided to embrace the tropical rainforest understory look and fill the shady space with palms, ferns and impatiens. Miraculously the basil, mint and parsley I planted last summer have continued to flourish behind the glass throughout our mild winter so that sunny strip at the northern boundary hopefully will continue to be the perfect aspect for essential herbs.
It was time to cut them hard, spring growth comes early in Brisbane so an Asian style coleslaw seemed like the perfect place for the colander laden with beautiful young mint, Vietnamese mint and basil leaves.
I find a razor sharp mandolin an indispensable tool when cutting vegetables for salad.
SE Asian Coleslaw
1/2 small wombok ( Napa cabbage), finely shredded
1 large carrot, but into fine julienne
6 radishes, very felt sliced
Large handful young tender mint leaves
Large handful young tender Vietnamese mint leaves
Large handful basil leaves
Large handful coriander leaves
Small bunch garlic chives, finely snipped
1 long red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely sliced
dressing:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
Toss the vegetables and herbs together in a bowl.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together to dissolve the sugar.
Just before serving toss the dressing through the salad.
Serves 2 generously
About ladyredspecs
26 comments on “Asian style Coleslaw”
Leave a comment
Creative Commons Copyright Licence
Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
This sounds so very good, Sandra, especially the use of fish sauce in the dressing. It sounds so much more appetizing than mayo-based dressing. Mint is not easily sourced here and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Vietnamese mint anywhere. Perhaps at one of the Asian markets with a larger produce section? Looks like i need to go shopping. 🙂
LikeLike
Vietnamese mint AKA ram rau has a unique flavour, hope you can source some. I’d be bereft without fresh mint..
LikeLike
Perfection!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Sandra, I can hardly believe I am saying this but I am looking forward to a bit of warmth and some salads. It is still very very cold here. It has been a long cold wet winter in the SW of WA. We are yet to have a nice spring day. I am not complaining, to the contrary, I love it, but it is time for a bit of sunshine. I know it won’t be long before I am complaining of the heat.
LikeLike
I understand those end of seasons blues Glenda, a longing for the change, I’m just missing the four distinctions.
LikeLike
I’m not very fond of the usual coleslaw, but made from napa cabbage it’s great!
LikeLike
Agree totally Stefan, and with loads of herbs and nuoc cham as dressing it’s a totally different salad to the mayo soaked version.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How our vege garden will pan out remains to be seen, our first efforts last summer were hit and miss. Which is why coleslaw is so handy, the carrots & cabbage of the moment keeps well in the crisper, important when 30 kms from town. Finally convincing the G.O. it has merit took similar treatment used in your Asian coleslaw, now it’s a regular so I look forward to making this version 😊
LikeLike
If you can get the herbs growing Dale it’s a beauty. Loving your Insta journey…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the salad and shall copy it faithfully your way! Pity so many people do not appreciate the value of whole handfuls of herbs!! Unusual dressing without an ‘oil’ component but sounds like s’thing I would really like! Am lucky: live in a cottage with a sunny W-facing wall and no windows on that side – what a delightful place to ‘hide’ my herb collection tho’ it does have to be watered twice daily in mid-summer heat! Yes, lemongrass and coriander can go wild even here 🙂 !
LikeLike
Yes herbs by the handful, they are wonderful salad greens Eha. Gardening varies by aspect and climate, just need to work out what’s best for what you have. It’s been a bit of a process for me..
LikeLike
We live on this sort of salad through the warmer months Sandra, and always an extra special feeling when part of it is homegrown!
LikeLike
No need to tell you how good the flavour is then Beck…
LikeLiked by 1 person
The salad looks delicious. We had a similar issue with a balcony garden – just a sliver of afternoon sun. After giving it our best effort, the few, tough-skinned tomatoes that did grow were chewed up by a squirrel. We relented and stuck to buying veggies at the Farmer’s Market.
LikeLike
Farmer’s markets are well worth supporting and I find the quality of the produce outstanding, but still that romantic notion of homegrown lingers. Thanks for commenting
LikeLiked by 1 person
you made me smile, I have had the same experience, where passion encountered reality in gardening and I had to embrace what I had which is north west facing balcony, lots of afternoon sun and east facing balcony with some morning sun but mostly shade…in the shade I grow fuchsias, begonias, hydrangeas and drooping heart (lamprocampnos) which is a very pretty plant and does super well in the shade. I am was not a big fan of any of these plants, but as they are so supremely healthy on the balcony, they have won me over…Happy Thursday Poli
LikeLike
We keep learning, don’t we Poli. It’s not the first time that reality has modified my idealism. I now have some fuschias in hanging baskets, palm trees and ferns. They seem to like my balcony
LikeLike
🙂 ditto for me! It’s a lifelong process 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser.
LikeLike
a lovely combination and one for me to remember some summer. Your dressing beats mayo for sure. One could live on this.
LikeLike
You’re so right, you could live on this. I think I might have been inspired by your travels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have the opposite problem: sunburned crops in my vegie beds – at least, the ones that survive the plague of grasshoppers, the sooty mould, the aphids… My Asian herbs, however, LOVE it, my lemongrass is 3 metres tall!
LikeLike
It’s a changing life long gardening habits that’s a challenge for me but I’m learning. your lemongrass sounds amazing
LikeLike
It’s a huge clump!
LikeLike
I love Vietnamese salad. Beautiful photo Sandra. There are many things I can’t grow where we live too, so I sympathize. Best of luck with the herbs.
LikeLike
Thanks Ardys. Remains to be seen if the herbs continue over summer, but I’ve adopted the rainforest understory look of palms and ferns for the mainly shaded area
LikeLike