Singaporean Slaw Salad with Salted Apricot Dressing
- Level: Intermediate
- Yield: 4 servings
- Total: 3 hr
- Prep: 1 hr
- Inactive: 1 hr
- Cook: 1 hr
Ingredients
1 Pickled Red Onion, recipe follows
1 1/2 cups Salted Apricot Dressing, recipe follows
2 green onions, both white and green parts, julienned
Vegetable oil, for deep frying
1/2 taro root, peeled and julienned
2 ounces rice vermicelli, broken into 3-inch pieces
1 large English cucumber, julienned
1 large carrot, julienned
1 small jicama, peeled and julienned
2 large roma tomatoes, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
4 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
6 teaspoons crushed roasted peanuts
4 teaspoons edible flower petals
4 teaspoons fennel seedlings
4 teaspoons purple basil seedlings
4 teaspoons daikon sprouts
4 teaspoons fried shallots
Pickled Red Onion
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 medium red onion, julienned
Salted Apricot Dressing
1 cup salted apricot (ume) paste*
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon mirin
1 teaspoon Dashi*
1 1/2 tablespoons Onion Oil*
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- In a medium bowl, soak green onions in ice water to keep crisp. In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour enough oil to fill the pan about a third of the way. Heat over medium heat until a deep-frying thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 400 degrees F. Add half of the julienned taro root to the oil. Fry about 2 minutes, or until crisp and light gold in color. Remove taro slices from oil, drain on paper towels, and lightly salt. Repeat with remaining taro root.
- Bring oil back up to 400 degrees F. Add half the vermicelli to the oil and fry until the noodles start to curl, about 2 or 3 seconds.. Remove the vermicelli from the oil, drain on paper towel and lightly salt. Fry the remaining vermicelli.
- Remove the julienned green onion from the ice water and drain on paper towels. Divide the vermicelli equally among 4 serving plates. Divide and arrange the julienned green onions, cucumber, carrot, jicama, and diced tomatoes evenly over vermicelli. Top salads with the pickled onions and the fried taro root.
- Sprinkle 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds and 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed peanuts over each salad. In a small bowl, combine the edible flower petals, fennel seedlings, daikon sprouts, and fried shallots. Divide the flower-sprout-shallot mixture evenly among salad plates. Serve the salads with the Salted Apricot Dressing alongside.
Pickled Red Onion
- In a small saucepan add the rice wine vinegar and water and over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Add the salt, black peppercorns, fennel seeds, bay leaf, and thyme to the saucepan and boil another 5 minutes. In a medium nonreactive bowl, combine the julienned red onion and the hot vinegar mixture. Toss gently to coat and let sit for at least 1 hour.
Salted Apricot Dressing
- In a blender, add the salted apricot paste, rice wine vinegar, mirin, Dashi, Onion Oil, sugar, ginger, and the salt. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Cook’s Note
*Can be found at specialty Asian markets.