What I’m eating these days.
So I had lots of plans for this post. I was working on this homemade snickers bar recipe. A recipe that I was certain would make me a certified candy-making badass. Salty roasted peanuts, sweet sticky caramel, fluffy chocolate nougat — you know the drill. And then I learned that nougat is hard. Quite hard. Literally hard, mine was. I couldn’t even get a knife through it.
So that post will have to wait a while, because life is kicking me in the butt these days. Classes and dinner at The Pantry are selling (Yay!) and we FINALLY finished grinding the glue off of our concrete floor, a month-long project that was pushing my sanity level to its edge. Sheet-rock is going up as I type, which means cabinets, counters and tile are up next. SO! MUCH! FUN! But, all this fun, just doesn’t leave much time for the elaborate cooking experiments that I just adore (sniff).
So I’m here to share with you what I actually eat these days: salad. And lots of it. Tuesday was my birthday, and we had a potluck in the under-construction space, and John made my most favorite summer salad ever, a salad that pretty much defined 2010 for me: a cabbage peanut salad to be exact. I found the original recipe in the book Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes and have slightly tweaked it to my taste (less sugar, less acid, more heat).
Obviously you start with a lot of cabbage.
While this salad is light on technique, it is like salad crack for me. You toss the cabbage with carrots, cilantro (LOTS of cilantro) and bell peppers and then mix in a spicy peanut sauce that I have to stop myself from eating straight from the bowl with a spoon. So maybe being a busy bee is a good thing? No time for desserts means more munching on salads, just in time for bathing suit season… Oh yeah, and did I mention you throw peanuts all over the whole thing? I was such a hurry when I made this one that I forgot the peanuts before snapping a quick photo. I was literally throwing them onto people’s bowls as they walked out the door (it was a lunch break on a cabinet painting day, good times).
Cabbage Peanut Salad Recipe:
Peanut Dressing:
1/3 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 TBSP soy sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP grated peeled ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 finely minced jalapeno
– Mix all of the liquids in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix together the peanut butter, brown sugar, ginger, garlic cloves and jalapeno. Slowly drizzle in the liquids, whisking constantly to emulsify into a smooth sauce. If your sauce doesn’t look so good, a few hits of an immersion blender should sort it out.
Salad:
1/2 head small green cabbage, thinly sliced
1/2 head small red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, shredded on cheese grater
6 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup packed cilantro, roughly chopped
salt to taste
1/2 cups roasted peanuts
– Toss all of the salad ingredients together with the dressing. Taste for salt adjustment and dig in.
I made that! 
Oh heavens this looks amazing. Every part of this salad appeals to me, there is not one ingredient that doesn’t sound perfect! Love when I find recipes like that 🙂 Definitely making this this weekend.
Somehow you always know what my stomach is craving — even before my brain knows! Good luck with your nougat. I cannot wait for the recipe.
Yum! I wish I had some cabbage in the house so I could make it right now. I will be making it soon.
Peanuts, jalapeño, ginger, cilantro! Some of my favorite ingredients! Thanks for the recipe!
I am a salad freak. I can never get enough. I will polish off any crunchy salad if it sits in front of me. I adore a cabbage salad. I am all over this!
Yeah, I had a really long day and I can’t be bothered to do things like make dressing. (I kid, it’s easy.) Making this salad with Jade Sichuan peanut sauce thinned out with a little vinegar. 🙂
We must have been related in a former life – cabbage salad and peanut dressing – just my favorite kind of food!
Sounds great! I love peanut sauce and cabbage so I will have to try this. Thanks for sharing!
Making this tomorrow! Looks fantastic.
Yummm, that looks awesome! I just bought a Benriner mandoline and consequently want to shred every vegetable I get my hands on these days. This looks like a perfect recipe!
Just made this–it was perfect for a warm summer evening!
I love salads, especially during the summertime. Last year I made a broccoli slaw that pretty much defined my summer. Can’t wait to try this.
MMmmmmm. Cabbage salad is our crack, too, a sesame one, with of all things, feta cheese. Yours looks looks more summery, more zippy. The cabbage salad battle is about to commence in my fridge. http://localfoodlover.blogspot.com/2011/03/miracle-in-cabbage.html
YUM. Had to stop by and say thank you for this recipe! I made it over the weekend and it was seriously awesome… can’t wait to make another batch soon!!
This was so delicious!!! Thank you.
Ohhh! I heart cabbage. It’s delicious and a great detoxifier (is that a word?) Anyways you get the gist. Yum, Yum, Yum. Can’t wait to try it. Happy belated birthday.
We had this with brats tonight and it was delicious! I’m passing it along to everyone I know via Facebook. So, so good. I didn’t have any peanuts, so we used cashews, which were just as tasty, I think. Thanks for the great recipe!
Leftovers are upstairs in the fridge- seriously haunting me! Best salad ever!!! I added a little cucumber (instead of green onion) and served it with some grilled chicken breast. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!!! Thanks.
What a gorgeous salad!
This was yummy! (and pretty!) I wouldn’t limit the peanut dressing to just cabbage…
love it. making it tomorrow. consider this my thanks in advance.
yay, sheetrock!
This looks so festive and would be perfect for a July 4th celebration………don’t you think so? Thanks for sharing!
[…] was cruising through a few of my daily reads the other day when I saw this spicy peanut salad over on I Made That. My mouth instantly started watering. Lucky me! I had almost all the […]
The salad looks awesome, happy birthday! As far as the hard nougat I’m not sure if you figured it out yet or not but the sugar probably got cooked too long. I’ve made a lot of nougat and depending on the temperature of the sugar it can come out soft to the point it can’t hold it’s shape or so hard it could crack a tooth!
Salad is amazing, and I love your blog! Please post more salads and other deliciousness when you get a chance!! Those of us outside of Seattle are missing you. 🙂
Umm a homemade snickers bar recipe would be incredible!!! Such a good idea to try that.
This salad looks crunchy, healthy and yummy!!
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you inspired me to whip this up at home last night with the leftover cabbage, green onions, and bottled thai peanut sauce i had in the fridge. i added a few squirts of sriracha and it was delicious! i’ll be heading to the store to get the rest of the ingredients this week so i can taste your complete version. thanks!
do we have to use peanut oil here? can i use a neutral flavored oil instead?
[…] Peanut Summer Slaw (inspired by this recipe at I Made […]
My husband and I have become cabbage addicts by using this dressing. I made up batches of shredded savoy and red cabbage, with some carrots added, then put it in the fridge. The dressing I poured into a Mason jar and have been using at least twice a day – it keeps well and lasts for the two of us the whole week. I have eaten the slaw for breakfast AND lunch for three days in a row. We don’t like cilantro or peppers and never have scallions or jalapeno around and I used some powdered ginger and never have peanut oil around either but it still tastes terrific. The color, crunch, and flavors are fantastic and addictive. Thanks so much for giving us a great, tasty new addition to our food repertoire.
this salad was amazing. i made this with basil and mint – was annoyingly out of cilantro – and it was still incredible. and it’s vegan! wow, this just earned a place in my heavy cooking roration.
Yum! This looks awesome and perfect for this hot summer.
This salad has been such a nice addition to my regular food regime. I am obsessed and simply cannot get enough, oh the dressing it to die for. Thank you for sharing.
[…] lookimadethat.com via Kate – The Shopping Mama on […]
I just made this, and it is sooooo good! Do you think the peanut sauce could be used in a stir fry? I will try it, but I wonder if you have any suggestions for modifications I might need. Thanks!
[…] Anouk brought a great Italian red, Il Trullo from the Co-op in Ashland. I was inspired to make this peanut and cabbage slaw. […]
[…] got this recipe from here, but I changed the veggies around a little based on what I had in the fridge. Feel free to change […]
This salad is amazing, but you already know that! I added a few sunflower seeds too. Also threw in multi colored peppers to add color. It turned out beautiful 🙂 thank you for posting this, love it!!!
[…] stems to the shredded cabbage and carrot. For a more adventurous take on cabbage salad, try this cabbage peanut salad recipe. I enjoyed it with poblano […]