Ramen Ichiban Cabbage Salad

Just make this salad, which is a potluck favorite. You don't want to know why it's so delicious. In fact, you may not want to make it after finding out. But if you survived your college days with ramen (pronounced "rah-men") instant noodle soup, having raw vegetables with it will be a big improvement.

I brought this salad to a friend's house last week for dinner, and everyone had seconds and asked for the recipe, which is exactly what I did the first time I had this salad at a potluck.

We ate ramen instant noodle soup many times while growing up. After a busy work day, mom or dad would boil some water, throw in the noodles, and three minutes later supper was ready, sometimes with a poached egg or peanut butter toast to round out the meal.

This salad is a show stopper because it's sweet, salty, sour, bitter and even has umami from the instant ramen noodles and texture from the nuts, seeds and raw vegetables. Just don't remind people that instant noodle soup's first three ingredients are salt, MSG and sugar. Potlucks are meant to be fun and salads are supposed to be healthy.

Recipe

Serves 8

½ small red cabbage, shredded or coarsely chopped
¼ small- to medium-sized cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1-2 cups broccoli florets, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, shredded

1 package Sapporo Ichiban Ramen soup noodles, crushed (use Original, red and white package) (You must use this brand!)
½ cup slivered almonds, toasted
¼ cup sesame seeds or sunflower seeds, toasted

For the Dressing:
½ cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sugar
Spice package from Sapporo Ichiban Ramen soup noodles
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Mix vegetables in a salad bowl. In a jar, shake the dressing ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Toss crushed noodles, nuts, seeds and dressing with vegetables just before serving.

"Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Give him ramen noodles, and you don’t have to teach him anything." — Lawrence Downes in The New York Times

Links to Other Ramen Salads
• Andrea's Recipes: Simi Salad (aka Ramen Noodle Salad)
• The Kitchn: Sesame Cabbage Salad

Links to Other information about Ramen
• Movie: Tampopo
• The Ramen Blog and Other Goodies: Ramen Rating: Sapporo Ichiban