Oh No! Oriental Salad by tomorrow???

[Jewel]

I was just informed that I must have 'missed' the sign-up sheet for an office potluck tomorrow. I had NO idea that we were even having an office potluck tomorrow! :eek: I'm supposed to bring a coleslaw, so I would like to make the Oriental Salad from the CL 2001 Annual. I've made this several times, and although I love the dressing and the taste, the noodles always give me fits. They never get soft! :mad: I know they're supposed to be slightly crunchy, but I mean they stay HARD crunchy, enough to hurt the roof of your mouth! I've had to use Ramen noodles the last few times I've made it, and I've had to nuke the dressing and the noodles together to get them to soften even a little bit. Maybe I'm using the wrong noodles? :confused: There are two types of Soba noodles I see at my store: the softy ones I see at Costco that look like limp spaghetti, and also the crunchy packages that look like Ramen noodles but a bit thicker. I used the crunchy Soba the first time and had my greatest problem. I quickly blanched the Ramen in boiling water once and that was OK, but not perfect.

Someone on this board said they soaked the noodles overnight in the dressing. If I make this salad tonight and soak the dressing and noodles overnight, then take the dressing/noodles in a separate container from the salad tomorrow to mix at work, will they be soft enough? Will they be too soft? All the softening should be done while the dressing is hot, right? So soaking all night and most of tomorrow morning in COLD dressing shouldn't soften them anymore...right?

Frankly, there's a little troll at my office who swears that no lowfat dish tastes good and I want to knock her know-it-all socks off and I think this dish can do it, I just need to make sure I get it right! Any advice! Talk about having my evening planned out now!! And it's MUST SEE TV THURSDAY!!! :(

[VictoriaL]

To the rescue!!!!
Use pasta, not the hard,crunchy, broke-my-husband's-tooth ramen noodles! I used whole-wheat rotini, but I imagine that any shape will work. I also recall that I made a few other changes to the recipe, but can't remember what they were... were there carrots in the original recipe? If not, add some julienned ones (steamed lightly). I looked and can't find two issues from 2001. I tend to take my CL's between our house and our vacation house and leave them wherever. :rolleyes:
Anyway, soaking doesn't work very well-- they still were quite firm 6 hours later. What are these things made of, anyway???
Hope it goes well!

[deb]

Here is a CL recipe we like. I'm not sure what issue it is from but if you need to know I can find it.

1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
4 cups cabbage (prepackaged slaw mix)
1/2 cup green onion, chopped

Combine lemon juice, sugar, vinegar, water, ginger, salt, and sesame oil.

Toss with slaw mix and green onions.

[Terrytx]

Sorry, I don't have an answer, but I am surely anxious to know the answer. I have had this recipe on my "to try" list forever and have not done it for that very reason. I kept hearing about the hard noodles and never saw an answer to how to solve the problem. I hope someone comes up with a solution.

[Jewel]

Well I chickened out... :rolleyes: Instead of making the CL recipe and worrying about the noodles I used an old Bon Appetit recipe and modified it to my liking. DH tried a sample for me last night before I brought it into work and he loved it so much he wanted it for dinner instead of the Kung Pao Lo Mein I'd prepared! :eek: Had to keep his fingers out of it! I packaged the slaw, peppers and dressing separately and have them waiting in the office fridge right now just waiting to mix up for lunch in a few hours. It's so colorful that it's visually stunning and I can't wait for the Office Troll to taste it! Just in case anyone wants to try this, the dressing is to die for... ;)

ASIAN SLAW

Slaw:

5 cups Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick strips
8 large green onions, cut into matchstick strips
1 large red bell pepper, cut into matchstick strips
1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into matchstick strips
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 TBS sunflower seed kernels

Dressing:

6 TBS rice vinegar
4 TBS vegetable oil
2 TBS sesame oil
5 TBS creamy peanut butter
3 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS packed brown sugar
2 TBS minced or grated fresh gingerroot
1-1/2 TBS minced garlic
2 tsp Thai chili sauce
½ tsp red pepper flakes

Whisk dressing ingredients together till smooth, cover and chill. Let stand 30 minutes to room temperature before continuing. Can be prepared one day ahead.

Mix slaw ingredients in a bowl, add dressing and toss to coat. Makes 4-6 servings.

[SandyM]

FYI, the recipe as written comes out to 7 WW points for 6 servings. I brought the canola oil (not vegetable) down to 2 Tbsp. and put in 2 Tbsp. of water to perhaps make up for the lack of liquid; and I omitted the sunflower seeds, which came out to 5 WW points.

[VictoriaL]

Jewel,
Your "reformulated" recipe sounds wonderful-- I can't wait to try it! And I cracked up when you mentioned the Office Troll!!! Don't we all have one of those in our lives, in one form or another? (Mine's a sister-in-law!) :D

[Terrytx]

Thanks Jewel, I'll try the Asian Slaw next week, but I still wish someone could solve the hard noodle proble in the other recipe.

[Jewel]

Originally posted by SandyM
FYI, the recipe as written comes out to 7 WW points for 6 servings. I brought the canola oil (not vegetable) down to 2 Tbsp. and put in 2 Tbsp. of water to perhaps make up for the lack of liquid; and I omitted the sunflower seeds, which came out to 5 WW points.

I'm beginning to wonder about the servings. This makes a LOT of slaw! Of course I won't mix the dressing into it for another half hour or so, then it will squish down and I'll see how many servings it really does make :rolleyes: but with 7 cups of cabbage alone, then the peppers equaled at least 1-1/2 cups total, and then the green onions and carrots probably totalled 1-1/2 cups, so my big bowl is full! As I said, though, once the dressing smooshes it down a little it may only make 6 servings. :confused: Stay tuned! :D I'll let you know how much it makes and whether it's an Office Success in about an hour!

And omit the sunflower seeds? :eek: I know, high in fat, but SO good for a recipe like this! ;) Maybe cut it down to 2 TBS?

[Terrytx]

We also want to know what the "Troll" thought of it.

[Jewel]

Originally posted by Terrytx
We also want to know what the "Troll" thought of it.

She's already sniffed at the word 'peanut butter'.... :rolleyes:

[wallycat]

Jewel,
thanks soooo much for posting this recipe....
Believe it or not, I JUST got through making a batch of something similar (a variation to Kim-Chee)...but I LOVE peanut butter....
this may be my new recipe!!! And I never thought to add sunflower seeds....hmmmm maybe even crushed cashews...
YUMMMMY ...thanks again for posting this!;)

[Jewel]

Salad was a success and the Office Troll even said she liked it! :p Sandy, I would guess at at least 8 'real' servings. At least 6 or 7 people ate some of the salad and there is just less than half left over. I don't think they dished up more than 1/2 cup or so on their plates (I wasn't there, I had to work the front desk! :rolleyes: ) but I know it's more than 6 servings. I'd feel comfortable saying 8-10 servings if servings are 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup! It obviously won't keep well once the dressing is tossed with it, it's starting to wilt a little, but if you've got enough people to eat it it will go fast!

I've already given the recipe to three co-workers...and the line forms to the left. ;) It's so cool to be a Queen... :cool:

[memartha]

Way to go! I loved hearing about your Troll, too. perfect name for the sort of person I imagine her to be! I'm printing the recipe... it sounds so great. Kudos!

[Shirley Ekstein]

Nothing to do with above but am curious about the number of goddesses that seem to hang out around here.

Thought Mount Olympus was getting a mite sparsely populated.

Am changing home page.

Yours faithfully,
Zeus

[sushibones]

That recipe sounds great, Jewel. Thanks for posting it. I made a similar slaw the other night with Napa cabbage, carrots, red pepper, and green onions and really liked the color combination. I would have posted it, but I had fiddled with the dressing and still wasn't totally happy with it (basically soy sauce, rice vinegar, peanut/sesame oil and ginger), so didn't. This dressing with peanut butter sounds wonderful.

BTW, I made the Asian Barbecued Chicken with pork chops the other night. Last night I sliced the leftover pork thinly, added perhaps 1-2 Tbs leftover marinade thinned with some water, and served it in pita pockets with the leftover salad. The salad was wilted, but added to the pork as a topping, it didn't matter.

[Wendy w]

Jewel, your Asian Slaw sounds really good and I have added it to my Mastercook.

I have to laugh at the fact that you have a troll in your office. We used to have one in mine who made lives miserable and the faculty got up in arms and she was banished to another dept. We even named a server after her. They may have been hatched in the same dungeon!:p We ran into her last week at lunch and almost lost it. :p

[Laura]

Jewel, I second (third, fourth) everyone else's opinion. One more thought on the recipe though, what about reduced fat peanut butter. I don't have Mastercook but given that the recipe calls for 5 TBS, that should save some calories/points as well.

[valchemist]

Jewel - this looks great! thanks for posting. I put the recipe (as you wrote it) into mastercook and here is the nutritional info, assuming 8 servings:

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 238 Calories; 17g Fat (61.4% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 458mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 3 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

not lowfat, but I think the sunflower seeds and the full fat PB are probably important to the taste.

here is the info with low fat PB and 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds:

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 231 Calories; 15g Fat (56.7% calories from fat); 6g Protein; 21g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 474mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Vegetable; 3 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

Val

[Terrytx]

I made this last night and it was absolutely the best Asian slaw I have ever had. I can hardly wait for lunch. I did use reduced-fat peanut butter, reduced the vegetable oil to 2 tbls. and left out the sunflower seeds. The DD and I were slurping up salad dressing that was left in the bottom of the salad bowl. Excellent.

A big THANKS Jewel!

[Jewel]

Originally posted by Laura
Jewel, I second (third, fourth) everyone else's opinion. One more thought on the recipe though, what about reduced fat peanut butter. I don't have Mastercook but given that the recipe calls for 5 TBS, that should save some calories/points as well.

Sorry, Laura, I should have mentioned that I DID use reduced fat Jif in my salad! :eek: I usually use Trader Joe's natural peanut butter, but whenever I've tried to mix it into a sauce it doesn't mix as well as Jif, so I got to use the RF in this one! Probably doesn't change the fat that much, but it made me feel better! I also think the sunflower seeds are purely optional. I added them to the recipe for crunch since it didn't use noodles, but also figured since it was for an office crowd that didn't give a whoop about fat and calories it was OK. If I made it for DH and I the seeds would probably be cut to either 1 TBS or just a sprinkle on top of each serving. DH suggested sesame seeds instead of sunflower to cut it even further!

[SandyM]

Originally posted by Jewel
Sandy, I would guess at at least 8 'real' servings.

I modified the recipe I put into WW to serve 8, using lowfat peanut butter (I had done that originally, though) and omitting the seeds (just cause I personally don't care for seeds in many things), and it came out to 4 points per serving. Just for kicks, throwing the seeds in did not change the point value, for those of you who would rather leave them in.

I can't wait to try this - thanks Jewel! :cool: