Miso Salad Baby!

I made something fabulous a few nights ago.  FABULOUS.  Out of a cabbage. 

Intrigued?

I have heard it said that cabbage is the poor man's physician.  That's how good it is for you.  We often replace lettuce with cabbage because it packs some serious nutrients.  It's perfect for the winter when it's harder to get fresh produce.  Cabbage tends to get a bad rap, like our humble oats, for being bland and boring.  But prepared correctly, it can knock your socks off.  Truly.  Thank you God for cabbage!  Let's eat it! 

This is a recipe that I have adapted from 101cookbooks (Heidi Swanson's wonderful food blog).  Heidi is a vegetarian and I am not, so I just supplement chicken for tofo in this recipe.  If you are unfamiliar with miso, it is a fermented soybean paste (hooked ya with that, didn't I?) that is wonderfully delicious.  I get mine at the health food store - it is very inexpensive and a little tub lasts us about six months.

Miso Cabbage Salad

Step One:  Chop up an entire head of napa cabbage.  I like to do this in semi-big chunks so they are easy to stab with your fork.

Step Two:  Mix the following together for the dressing:

     - 2 tablespoons miso

     - 2 tablespoons organic brown sugar

     - 1/3 cup olive oil

     - 1/4 cup rice vinegar

     - 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

     - 1 teaspoon mustard

(See Georgia hangin' out in the background?)

Step Three: Chop up a couple green onions and toss them with the cabbage.  I also sprinkle sesame seeds on the cabbage, maybe 1/8 cup or so.  Toasted almonds are delicious in this as well, but I didn't have any.

Step Four: Put some chicken in!  I usually cook up a whole fryer chicken and use about half in this salad, and half in another recipe, but feel free to add as much as you like!  I just season mine with salt and pepper when I cook it, as the dressing is very flavorful on it's own. 

Step Five:  Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to coat.

Step Six:  That's it.  No more steps.  The salad is complete.  I forgot to take a picture of the completed salad because I was too busy taste testing, which lead to me eating about a quarter of the salad, which lead to it looking like a wild animal had ravaged it.  Alas, no pictures were taken.  I have no self control.

Let me know how yours turns out!