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Home » Salads by Season » Winter Salads

Tasty Thai Asian Slaw - full of umami!

Made by Anastasia Papapetros - Serves 8 Filed Under: Low Carb, Make Ahead Salads, Salad Index, Winter Salads

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This Tasty Thai Asian Slaw is bursting with fresh flavours starting with fresh mint, coriander, basil and lime and finishing with a Thai dressing that is teeming with umami.

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An aerial view of Thai Asian slaw.

A Thai twist for classic coleslaw, the cabbage is brought to life with fresh herbs and a wonderful Thai dressing while the peanuts and sesame seeds add a nice crunch.

An all-purpose Asian salad that you can serve with barbecued meats or spicy curries. We served ours with a classic Thai Green Chicken Curry.

This salad is low carb, dairy-free and suitable for both vegans and vegetarian if you use soy sauce instead of the fish sauce. It can also be keto (just use a keto brown sugar and coconut aminos or tamari) and paleo if you use a paleo-friendly fish sauce and ¼ teaspoon honey instead of brown sugar).

The 5 Thai Flavours in Asian Slaw

The secret to a good Thai recipe is all about balancing the five key flavour tastes. While it is not essential that a recipe includes all of them it needs to have at least 2 of the five for it to taste authentic.

  • SALTY : fish sauce (is the traditional ‘salty’ element in Thai cooking), shrimp paste, soy sauce
  • SPICY : fresh and dried chillies, ginger, pepper
  • SOUR : lime juice, tamarind, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, coriander (cilantro)
  • SWEET : palm sugar, other sugars, fruits
  • BITTER : bitter lemon and bitter leaves

All Thai food will include all of these tastes or a combination of them. One will likely dominate but the others will all be there hiding in the background.

It is achieved in this salad by the use of fish sauce, fresh chillies, ginger, lime juice, kaffir lime leaves, coriander and brown sugar.

THAI ASIAN SLAW CLOSE-UP

How to make this salad…

1Prepare the cabbage
Remove the hard core and any damaged and the thick outer leaves from your cabbage, separate the leaves and wash them gently under cold running water. Shake to remove excess water and pat dry. Then shred finely using a sharp chef’s knife.

  • A napa or Chinese cabbage half with its core removed on a wooden board with a knife.
    REMOVE THE HARD CORE
  • Chinese cabbage salad leaves are washed in a colander under water in the sink.
    WASH THE LEAVES
  • Napa or Chinese Cabbage leaves being dried in a towel on a wooden board.
    PAT THEM DRY
  • Hands shredding Chinese cabbage on a wooden board.
    SHRED YOUR CABBAGE

2Prepare herbs and chilli
Wash all your herbs, pat dry or spin dry in a salad spinner to remove excess water
Pick the basil and mint leaves from their stems and roughly chop your coriander.
Wash and trim your chilli, then slice thinly on the diagonal.

  • Mint and basil leaves on a wooden board.
    STRIP THE MINT & BASIL
  • Hands diagonally slicing chillies on a wooden board.
    SLICE THE CHILLI DIAGONALLY
  • Chopping coriander or cilantro on a wooden board with a knife.
    CHOP CORIANDER / CILANTRO
  • JUST A WHITE PAGE

3Prepare remaining veg
Wash, trim and peel your carrots cut into a fine julienne with a mandoline or grate coarsely.
To prepare your capsicum, cut it in half and remove the core, seeds and inner ribs with a parring or any other small knife. Rinse under cold water.
Then place the glossy side of the capsicum face down (it is much easier to slice this way as your knife does not slip) and cut into 2 cm (½ inch strips).

  • Carrots are being cut into fine julienne with an orange mandoline slicer.
    JULIENNE YOUR CARROTS
  • CHOPPING RED CAPSICUM
    CUT CAPSICUM / BELL PEPPER INTO STRIPS

4Shake-up the dressing
Chiffonade your kaffir lime leaves, add your grated ginger and minced garlic, place in a glass jar.
Add the lime juice, fish sauce, and oils in the glass jar, season with some sea salt and cracked black pepper and shake until emulsified.

  • Thai vinaigrette ingredients in a glass jar.
    PLACE INGREDIENTS IN A GLASS JAR
  • Shaken Thai vinaigrette in a glass jar.
    SHAKE UNTIL EMULSIFIED

5Putting it all together...
Place your cabbage, carrots, capsicum, herbs, sesame seeds and peanuts in a large mixing bowl, pour over the vinaigrette, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Toss until the vegetables are coated with the dressing and the herbs and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the salad.
Arrange your Asian slaw on a salad platter scatter the chillies and some extra peanuts on top to garnish, place in your fridge to chill until you are ready to serve.

  • Prepared Thai Asian slaw ingredients ina white bowl.
    PLACE ALL INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL
  • Mixing Thai Asian slaw in a white bowl with tongs.
    TOSS WELL TO COMBINE

Make ahead tips for Asian Slaw

  • You can easily shred the cabbage and carrots and keep them separately in water the day before. I like to keep them in separate containers so that the carrots do not discolour the cabbage. Strain the carrots well before adding to your salad and rinse the cabbage thoroughly as it will have a slight smell to it
  • Julienned carrots in water.
    CARROTS IN WATER
  • Shredded napa or Chinese cabbage in water.
    CABBAGE IN WATER
  • Straining shredded carrots in a strainer in the sink.
    COMPLETELY STRAIN THE CARROTS
  • Straining shredded cabbage in a strainer in the sink and rinsing it.
    RINSE THE CABBAGE AND STRAIN WELL
  • Make the dressing a day or two ahead this will allow for the kaffir lime and ginger flavours to infuse the est of the dressing. Double or triple the dose to use as a marinade for steak chicken fillets or even salmon.
  • This Thai Asian Slaw is even better if you make it an hour to two in advance allowing all the flavours to meld together.
  • Make a big batch of this salad (minus the dressing) and keep it in your fridge for your lunchbox throughout the week, just add the dressing the day before.

Try some more of our tasty slaws recipes

  • An aerial view of apple slaw in a black bowl with a pink linen napkin on the side.
    APPLE SLAW
  • Close-up of broccoli slaw.
    BROCCOLI SLAW
An aerial view of Thai Asian Slaw in a black bowl with orange chopsticks.

Tasty Thai Asian Slaw

This Tasty Thai Asian Slaw is bursting with fresh flavours starting with fresh mint, coriander, basil and lime and finishing with a Thai dressing that is teeming with umami.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes minutes
* Times are an estimate and will depend on your skill level
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: Easy
Servings: 8
Calories: 198kcal
Author: Anastasia Papapetros
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Equipment
  • Mandoline / V-Slicer
Ingredients
For the salad…
  • ½ head Chinese Cabbage {Nappa Cabbage/Wombok} (approximately 750 grams)
  • 2 large carrots (approximately 360 grams)
  • 1 large red capsicum {bell pepper} (approximately 300 grams)
  • 1 small bunch coriander {cilantro} (1 cup)
  • 4 sprigs basil (⅓ cup)
  • 3 sprigs Asian mint (¼ cup)
  • ½ cup peanuts (roasted)
  • 2 tbsps extra peanuts for a garnish
  • 4 tbsps sesame seeds (toasted)
  • 2 tablespoon black sesame seeds
  • 1 long chilli
For the Thai Vinaigrette…
  • ¼ cup MCT oil {you could also use extra virgin olive oil or peanut oil}
  • ¼ cup lime juice
  • 2-3 tsps sesame oil
  • 2 tbsps fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
  • 1 garlic clove (minced)
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves (chiffonade)
  • ¼ teaspoon brown sugar
Metric - Imperial
Instructions
  • Wash and trim all your vegetables, finely shred your cabbage, either julienne or grate your carrots, cut your capsicums into 2cm (½ inch) strips.
  • Wash your herbs, pat dry or spin in a salad spinner to remove excess water. Pick the basil and mint leaves from their stems and roughly chop your coriander.
  • Trim your chillies, rinse under cold water and slice on the diagonal.
  • Place all your vinaigrette ingredients in a glass jar, season and shake until emulsified.
  • Add all your ingredients (except the sliced chilli and extra peanuts) in a large mixing bowl, pour over the vinaigrette, season and toss until well combined.
  • Arrange in a salad platter scatter the peanuts and chilli on top to garnish, chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Calories: 198kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 453mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3880IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 86mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @salads_with_anastasia or tag #salads_with_anastasia!

THAI ASIAN SLAW

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About Anastasia Papapetros

Anastasia has been passionate about cooking since she was eight years old, and hasn't left the kitchen since! With over a decade of experience running her own coffee shop and catering business, Anastasia has developed a true love for salads - especially for family get-togethers and friends' functions. She's the go-to for bringing the perfect salad to any occasion!

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