For a while now I've been trying to make a well-known recipe less sweet. A chat with Gill a few months ago has only now made sense: we love this salad, the boys are addicted, they end up eating mounds and mounds of shredded cabbage, but it turns out that what we actually love about it is the whopping 1/4 cup of sugar in the dressing. It's off-the-scale sweet which is precisely why one cannot stop, and it leaves me feeling a bit, well, dirty.
Went back through my emails and found a recipe from Sharyn, a good friend of an excellent one. Sharyn and I share incredibly similar thoughts on food, so I trust her implicitly. I've eaten her food. It's wonderful. And there it is: she reduces the sugar to 1 tablespoon. Currently eating solo I went even lower last night, just a big pinch of soft brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of mirin subbed for the caster sugar.
Ate lots. Felt clean. I'd say that's a win.
Beautiful photo!
Posted by: tea_austen | August 10, 2011 at 04:22 PM
I have never tried that salad. But anything which leads to people eating tonnes of cabbage is good for me. It looks utterly delicious, but gosh it'd hurt pouring in that 1/4 cup of sugar. Glad to hear the drop in sugar, combined with sub of mirin worked well. I shall be trying.
Posted by: kathryn | August 10, 2011 at 04:44 PM
ahhhhh such happy childhood memories of this salad. i want to eat it now, sugar and all.
Posted by: bawkbawk | August 10, 2011 at 10:14 PM
I'm always amazed by what I can do without or minimize. Nice example.
Posted by: Denise | Chez Danisse | August 11, 2011 at 01:27 AM
Thanks for pointing out this recipe, and the variations you used. I've bookmarked it - I think it may become a favourite in our household too!
Posted by: Ruth | August 11, 2011 at 03:27 AM
remind me to tell you about another crazygood napa salad. no sugar involved.
Posted by: alison | August 11, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Glad the experiment worked. Maybe another time, see if the sweetness from the mirin is enough?
Posted by: another outspoken female | August 11, 2011 at 11:55 AM
i love that noodle salad but also feel a bit odd about the amount of sugar going in to it ... nice idea
Posted by: paula | August 14, 2011 at 08:21 AM
Now that we got the sugar issue dealt with, I want to know more about these Chang's fried noodles- I've never heard of them! Are they a popular phenomenon I've missed? Can I fry my own noodles, or do they contain fried secrets?
Posted by: the good soup | August 20, 2011 at 05:40 AM