I have been looking through my grandpa’s recipe book and he had a recipe for “Chinese Salad.” The ingredients were what I’ve seen in the typical Ramen Noodle salad with cabbage, green onions, and a package of Raman Noodle mixture.  

I’ve never made a salad like this, so I thought I would give it a try. The problem was that I wasn’t sure what types of flavors would go well in his salad since I’ve never made it myself. Lucky for me, I found a delicious version on gimmesomeoven.com. The changes that I made were mainly to add more toppings (as I tend to do with all my salads 🙂 ) and I also changed the dressing. The original dressing sounded too similar to a dressing I already use for my Asian Chicken Salad and let’s be honest, if I’m going to make a new kind of salad I don’t want it to taste like an old one. It also had double the oil that I put it, but I really didn’t think it needed more than 1/3 of a cup especially with the juice from the mangoes. I tried using the seasoning packet like I’ve seen in other recipes and I liked it. I know it’s not the best for you and the next time I have soy sauce (I ran out before making this salad) I might try Ali’s Asian Honey Vinaigrette. For now, we loved this version.

Funny story about my grandpa. He was a joker. He used to go for walks every morning around town and before he headed home he would make his way to our house for an early cup of coffee. While in high school I often woke up to the sound of his voice or his laughter echoing through the house. I would smile and get out of bed knowing even at eighteen I could still go sit on my grandpa’s lap and say good morning. Of course, that’s if I was lucky. If I wasn’t I woke up to him standing over my bed with a squirt bottle soaking my face and telling me it was time to rise and shine. Or sometimes it was awaking to loud clatter of two lids he would clang together over my head. And since he knew my sister liked to sleep in a whole lot of nothin’ I was his only target while she got off easy! Well, he was known for playing pranks on people and in college we lived with him and grandma up in Flagstaff for summer and early fall while they avoided Parker heat. One afternoon I was bending over to get something out of the fridge and he snuck up behind me and poked me in the bum with a knife. I was so shocked I whipped around and without thinking hit him in the shoulder. He laughed and I gasped and a day later he had a bruise that ran from his shoulder to his elbow. He blamed it on blood thinners and told me he deserved it, but talk about feeling guilty!

Salad Ingredients

• 2 (3 oz) packages Ramen Noodles, broken into pieces (Oriental flavoring)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds
• 1 (16 oz) bag of coleslaw mix or 1/2 green cabbage, shredded, and 1 carrot, peeled
• 1 (80z) package of frozen edamame
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced
• 2 mangoes, peeled, pitted, and diced or 2 cups frozen mangos, thawed
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• Asian Honey Dressing (see below)

Directions

1. Heat edamame in the microwave to thaw and set aside to cool.
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Spread the almonds an ramen noodles on a baking sheet. Bake for about three minutes until golden brown. Don’t let them go over five minutes or they’ll burn.
3. In a large bowl add coleslaw mix, cooled edamame, avocados, mangoes, green onions and dressing. Stir to combine.
4. If serving immediately, mix in toasted ramen noodles and and almonds. Otherwise, but them in a ziplock bag and add as you eat so they don’t get soggy.

Asian Honey Dressing Ingredients

• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 packet Oriental seasoning mix (from Ramen Noodle package)
• sprinkle of salt & fresh cracked pepper

Directions

1. Add all dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine, or put in a container with a tight lid and shake away!

If you like this recipe you might also like to try: