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.
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.
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.
REMOVE THE HARD CORE WASH THE LEAVES PAT THEM DRY 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.
STRIP THE MINT & BASIL SLICE THE CHILLI DIAGONALLY CHOP CORIANDER / CILANTRO
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).
JULIENNE YOUR CARROTS 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.
PLACE INGREDIENTS 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.
PLACE ALL INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL 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
CARROTS IN WATER CABBAGE IN WATER COMPLETELY STRAIN THE CARROTS 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
(Times are an estimate and will depend on your skill level)
Equipment
- Mandoline / V-Slicer
Ingredients
- 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 tbsp black sesame seeds
- 1 long chilli
- 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 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 garlic clove (minced)
- 4 kaffir lime leaves (chiffonade)
- ¼ tsp brown sugar
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.
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