Lettuce Costs Too Much? Try Napa Salad!
The current price for romaine lettuce where I live is about $5.50 a head, and iceberg lettuce is close behind at $5.00. For this amount of money, it simply makes no sense to buy lettuce until things get reasonable again. Thankfully, napa cabbage is a good alternative that costs about half as much as lettuce and is nutritionally comparable. It is also better value for money, because half a head of napa will easily make a salad for six, and it keeps longer in the fridge!
What is napa cabbage?
Napa cabbage (aka “Chinese cabbage”) is traditionally used in East Asian cuisine, but can be found in supermarkets all over the world. It has a mild, delicate taste, and crinkly leaves. It is an extremely versatile ingredient that can be used in salads, soups and cooked dishes. It can also be fermented, and is the key ingredient in kimchi - a delightfully intense Korean condiment. There are many ways to use it in a salad, but this is the way my wife and kids seem to like it:
Ingredients (serves 6):
Salad
1/2 head of napa
1 or 2 carrots
1 red pepper
2 or 3 green onions
2 slices of bacon
Dressing
Directions:
Combine all the dressing ingredients if the bottom of salad bowl
Put the bacon in the microwave, covered, for about two min & 40 sec
Finely shred the napa
Finely slice the other vegetables
Dice up the bacon
Put everything in the bowl, mix well and chill until served.
Variations
There are many ways to use napa in a salad, and the suggestion above is just one of them! For instance, napa can be substituted for romaine in a caesar salad, and it works fine like that. For a more Asian twist, drop the bacon, add some cilantro, and use the following dressing:
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar (or more if you like it sweet)
pinch of salt & pepper
Why this works
The simple combination of color, texture and flavors makes this salad pleasing to the eye, satisfying to the mouth and interesting for the taste buds. The dressing is basically “thousand island dressing” with a tablespoon of soya sauce for added flavor. The dressing is mixed up first so its ingredients have time to properly combine before being tossed into the salad. For the dressing - feel free to adjust the sweetness, saltiness or acidity to your taste. Play around and let me know how you like it in the comments!
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Here’s a video where I show how to make mayonnaise in a just minutes using a hand blender:
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