Ramen Cabbage Salad

This is one of our family favorites.  It's a slaw made with cabbage and uncooked Ramen noodles.

The recipe is made up of 3 parts.... the veggies, the crunchy stuff, and the dressing.  You keep the 3 parts separate until it's time to serve.  The proportions are very forgiving.  You can adjust them to taste.  For that reason, I list a "range" of quantities for a lot of the ingredients.

Veggies:
1/2 medium head cabbage, shredded.... or a 10 oz bag of slaw mix (not the kind with the red cabbage in it).  If you have a small head of cabbage- just shred the whole thing.

2-3 chopped green onions (scallions).  Use the whole thing- white and green part

1- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas.  Use 2 cup if you like peas a lot.  Just run some water over them to thaw them- don't cook them.  Make sure they're drained.  When I had fresh peas from the garden, I used them raw.  Not everyone would enjoy this, but I love raw peas.

Crunchy Stuff
1/8 - 1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 - 1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/4 - 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1 pkg Top Ramen, chicken flavor.   Crunch up the noodles with your hands BEFORE you open the package.  When you open it, set aside the chicken flavoring.

Melt about 2 tbsp butter (or part butter and part olive oil) in a pan.  Saute the 4 crunchy ingredients until lightly toasted.  Be careful- they can burn quickly.  Set aside to cool.

Dressing:
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon pepper
chicken seasoning packet from Top Ramen
scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup vinegar

Mix together and chill until ready to assemble

Cabbage, peas and scallions.  Quantities of each don't really matter- just have about 1/2 -1 head cabbage plus some peas and scallions.

Crunchy stuff... saute until browned but be careful not to burn it.

Dressing.  One of my favorite things in the kitchen is this old Tupperware shaker container.  I use it for everything from shaking drinks to making gravy and dressings.

Right before serving, toss the cabbage mixture and the crunchy mixture.  Add about 3/4 of the dressing, toss, and you decide if you want to add the rest.  Depending on how much cabbage and other stuff you put in, the whole amount of dressing may be too much.  Better to start with less and add if you want.

Also- if you're cutting back on salt, you could cut back a bit in the dressing.  There's salt in the Ramen chicken seasoning packet.

Leftovers are GREAT, but taste a little different.  The Ramen noodles absorb the dressing and get soft.  It really does taste good the next day, but there's no crunch.  It's just different.

Every time I make this, I'm asked for the recipe.  Give it a try!