Red Seasonal Salad

by Nigella. Featured in FEAST

Introduction

For someone who’s never been to Vietnam, I am piling up quite a few recipes which are Vietnamese in inspiration if not origin. This is a festively toned take on what is sometimes referred to as ‘Vietnamese coleslaw’, according to the great Nicole Routhier in her introduction to the echt version, ga xe phay. This one has the virtue of being pronounceable for those of us who are ill-travelled, and of celebrating the seasonal as well as seasonally evocative colour: turkey takes the place of the more regular chicken and red cabbage stands in for the plain white one. Red onion and radishes are added (by me, too) for flavour and crunch and, yes, colour.

For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

As featured in

FEAST

2004

Buy Now

Red Seasonal Salad — Photo by James Merrell

As featured in

FEAST

2004

Buy Now

Ingredients

Serves: 8

Metric Cups

500 grams cold cooked turkey (shredded)
2 red chillies
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons caster sugar
3 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
4 tablespoons thai fish sauce (nam pla)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red onion
black pepper
700 grams red cabbage
250 grams radishes
5 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

4 cups cold cooked turkey (shredded)
2 red chiles
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
3 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
4 tablespoons thai fish sauce (nam pla)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 red onion
black pepper
1½ pounds red cabbage
8 ounces radishes
5 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method

Finely chop the chillies with or without seeds depending on how hot you like it, and drop them in a large bowl, in fact the largest bowl you have, then mince in the garlic. Add the sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce and vegetable oil.
Peel and finely slice the red onion into half moons and add it to the mixture in the bowl, grind over some black pepper and leave to steep for 15 minutes, making sure everything’s immersed in the astringent liquid.
Add the shredded turkey and leave to marinate for a further 15 minutes.
Shred the red cabbage as finely as you can and add to the bowl. Cut the radishes into eight segments rather as you would open an orange (this way you get both more crunch and more red in each slice than if you’d cut the radishes in fine rounds).
Mix the cabbage and radishes into the bowl with the steeped turkey in its oniony dressing (which is why you needed to start with your biggest bowl) and toss together very well.
Work through about half of the fresh coriander and sprinkle the remaining half on top of the salad when you turn it out on to a plate or serving dish.

Finely chop the chillies with or without seeds depending on how hot you like it, and drop them in a large bowl, in fact the largest bowl you have, then mince in the garlic. Add the sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce and vegetable oil.
Peel and finely slice the red onion into half moons and add it to the mixture in the bowl, grind over some black pepper and leave to steep for 15 minutes, making sure everything’s immersed in the astringent liquid.
Add the shredded turkey and leave to marinate for a further 15 minutes.
Shred the red cabbage as finely as you can and add to the bowl. Cut the radishes into eight segments rather as you would open an orange (this way you get both more crunch and more red in each slice than if you’d cut the radishes in fine rounds).
Mix the cabbage and radishes into the bowl with the steeped turkey in its oniony dressing (which is why you needed to start with your biggest bowl) and toss together very well.
Work through about half of the cilantro and sprinkle the remaining half on top of the salad when you turn it out on to a plate or serving dish.