Easy Japanese Creamy Mayo Cabbage and Carrot Salad

I love this kind of simple salad. I like making it with cabbage, but it’s also delicious with lettuce, the important thing is to cut everything really fine, since that helps with the texture, and in the case of cabbage it makes the leaves much nicer to eat in a salad, since they’re a bit tougher than lettuce.

This is actually a classic style of salad across Asia, not just Japan, shredded cabbage shows up in salads there far more often than lettuce does in Europe or in America. The cabbage holds up better to dressing and slicing, and the end result is a much crunchier kind of salad than what most of us are used to.

You can throw this salad together in a couple of minutes, but you can also make it a little ahead of time if you’re using cabbage, because it actually gets more tender after sitting dressed for a few hours. If you use lettuce instead, though, eat it right away 🙂 Let’s check the recipe.

Easy Japanese Creamy Mayo Cabbage and Carrot Salad

Servings: 2
Time: 15mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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This is one of my quick one-two salads when i want a fresh and crispy salad to dress any meal hehehe.

Ingredients

Cabbage – 2 large leaves
Onion – 1 small
Carrot – 1/2
Cilantro – A pinch
Mayonnaise – 1 tablespoon
Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon
Fruit Vinegar – 1 teaspoon
Pepper – A pinch
Salt – A pinch

Directions

Start by washing the vegetables, then cut the cabbage, carrot, and onion into thin julienne strips. Put everything in a bowl and mix well.
Next, season with a tablespoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of vinegar, pepper, and salt. Mix again.
Pour in the mayonnaise and mix again. Taste and adjust the seasonings with a little more mayonnaise, olive oil, vinegar, salt, or pepper until it’s to your liking.
Finally, sprinkle with a pinch of chopped cilantro and you’re done! Enjoy!

Notes & Tips: Slice the cabbage as thin as you possibly can, this is really the secret to the whole salad, the thinner the shreds, the more tender and pleasant it is to eat, especially since raw cabbage is naturally tougher than lettuce.

If you want it even creamier, swap part of the mayonnaise for plain yogurt, it lightens things up without losing that creamy coating on the vegetables.

Letting the cabbage sit dressed in the fridge for an hour or two before serving actually improves it, the salt and vinegar soften the leaves and mellow out any rawness, this doesn’t work with lettuce, which wilts and turns watery instead.

A drop of sesame oil or a small sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds at the end leans further into the Asian-style flavor profile if you want to take it that direction.

Salt the cabbage lightly and let it sit for a few minutes before dressing if you’d like an even crunchier bite, just pat off any extra moisture that comes out first.

This salad is a great make ahead side for barbecues, grilled fish, or fried rice, since it holds up in the fridge far better than a lettuce-based salad would.

This recipe for Easy Japanese Creamy Mayo Cabbage and Carrot Salad was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Salada de Couve com Coentros foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.