Childhood favourite cabbage noodle salad

This was a favourite in my house when I was a kid, and now that I have kids it has made a major comeback. Adults love it too!

Part of the point of this recipe is to throw in what you have, so feel free to add other stuff that you think might belong… (peas, cooked broccoli, ..)

Ingredients

Main salad

• 2 tbs toasted sesame seeds (or just a random amount)
• 2 tbs toasted chopped nuts (I typically do sliced almonds, if I have them)
• 1/2 head finely chopped cabbage (I just got my first mandoline, which makes really fine much easier - it doesn’t have to be that fine though, but quite fine is good. If your cabbage is small, do the whole thing!)
• 3-4 packages of ramen noodles (I have been using 4 if they are Mr. Noodles and 3 if they are Sapporo Ichiban .. usually I use chicken flavour but it doesn’t really matter)
• Cut up leftover chicken (or you have use fresh rotisserie chicken)… about 1/2 a chicken’s worth
• Chopped cilantro if you are a cilantro family

Dressing

These quantities are for 3 packs of noodles. If you use 4 packs you may want to bump everything up a little bit.

• 3 tbs white sugar
• 4 tbs vinegar (rice wine or apple cider)
• 3 tbs oil
• Pepper
• Flavour packets from the noodles

Directions

1. Toast the almonds and sesame seeds in a dry frying pan. Set aside in a small bowl.
2. Quarter the cabbage and cut out the core. Slice the quarters with a knife or mandoline into long thin strips, no more than about 2-3mm wide if possible, ideally closer to 1mm (you want them to kind of blend in with the noodles). Put the cabbage in the largest bowl you have. It will seem like A LOT of cabbage.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil (no salt needed). When it is at a rolling boil, add all the noodles (don’t forget to remove the flavour packets first). Set the timer for 1 minute and prepare a strainer at the sink. When the timer goes off, strain the water off and give the noodles a shake to get out excess water. Dump the steaming hot noodles on top of the cabbage so they soften the cabbage a little.
4. Add the diced chicken on top of the noodles.
5. Put all the dressing ingredients in a microwaveable container (such as a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and microwave for a minute or 2 then give it a good stir to dissolve the sugar.
6. Pour the dressing over the salad.
7. Sprinkle the toasted nuts and sesame seeds and the cilantro over top. (I add these at the end so they stay a little more crunchy).
8. Now for the hardest part - toss everything together, trying not to fling too many noodles and too much cabbage out of the bowl. Consider using a bigger bowl next time. When everything is well mixed, it is ready to serve. 

Serve kids a healthy portion with plenty of cabbage and chicken for their first bowl so that when they ask for seconds and try to get only noodles, they have already had some good balance :)