{"id":18299,"date":"2016-01-22T21:33:06","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T20:33:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=18299"},"modified":"2016-01-22T21:33:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-22T20:33:06","slug":"japanese-shredded-cabbage-salad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=18299","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Shredded Cabbage Salad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cabbage_otouship\"While\u00a0in Japan\u00a0we usually\u00a0follow the same\u00a0eating pattern: restaurant for lunch and\u00a0izakaya for\u00a0dinner. Izakaya could be\u00a0described as the equivalent of a pub,\u00a0but no one goes there only to drink and the food is\u00a0as good\u00a0as in “real” restaurants (or even better, but at a lower price!). Izakayas\u00a0serve small food portions\u00a0and this makes them perfect places\u00a0to end the day in a cool atmosphere, whether very hungry or just a bit. Most izakayas make customers pay for “otoshi\/otoushi”, which could be described as an obligatory welcome snack (if you are lucky, you might also receive another non-ordered snack in the middle of your meal and even at the end, but these will be on the house, so make sure to compliment them, even if you don’t like them!). Otoshi tells a lot about the place\u00a0:\u00a0if it is bad and it’s our first visit to the place,\u00a0I order very cautiously and immediately search\u00a0internet for another izakaya\u00a0to continue the evening, just in case….<\/p>\n

Strangely, among all the different otoshi, some of them very unusual, this cabbage salad, served in one of our favourite izakayas, was was\u00a0the most extraordinary. Having gone there\u00a0twice this year, I memorised\u00a0well all the ingredients and prepared\u00a0it as soon as we came back. It’s by far the best raw cabbage dish I have ever eaten\u00a0in my life! If you like\u00a0typical Japanese flavours, I guarantee you will dream of\u00a0this salad every time you see the humble cabbage in your grocery shop (at least that’s what happens to me every time I go shopping!).<\/p>\n

TIPS:\u00a0This dish is not vegetarian, but can easily become\u00a0such if you skip the dried bonito flakes. (I don’t advise skipping the remaining ingredients which are essential in my opinion).<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who never cook Japanese, might be put off by some\u00a0ingredients, but they are easy to get in any\u00a0Japanese grocery shop (or can be ordered by internet, at least in Europe, US or Canada).<\/p>\n

Ponzu<\/em> is a slightly sweet, slightly tangy and savoury light sauce. The tanginess comes from the Japanese citrus : yuzu.<\/p>\n

Nori<\/em> is the seaweed sheet used to make maki sushi.<\/p>\n

Dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)<\/em> look a bit like wood flakes, but are made from very hard pieces of dried fish. They are used in the preparation of the most popular version of dashi (stock) and to put on top of dishes, such as okonomiyaki (they are delicious simply sprinkled on rice).<\/p>\n

If you\u00a0have never tasted Japanese mayonnaise, try it at least once. I consider it the best mayonnaise in the world.<\/p>\n

I haven’t managed to shred the cabbage as finely as it’s done in Japan, but the thin slices are sufficient and are easily obtained with a mandolin.<\/p>\n

Because of the ponzu’s tanginess, I find this salad particularly good with fried meat or fish (as long as you don’t exaggerate with the mayonnaise!). You can also serve it as a starter.<\/p>\n

You can shred the cabbage in advance, but add the remaining ingredients only just before serving.<\/p>\n

Preparation: about 10 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves two as a side-dish):\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/3 small white cabbage<\/em><\/p>\n

2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise (the Japanese mayonnaise is just perfect here)<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/2 nori sheet, shredded (the seaweed used to make maki sushi; sometimes you can find it already shredded)<\/em><\/p>\n

4 tablespoons ponzu sauce<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0a small handful of dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi)<\/em><\/p>\n

Shred the cabbage with a mandolin or a special shredder.<\/p>\n

Place the cabbage into individual bowls.<\/p>\n

Sprinkle with ponzu, add the mayonnaise, nori and bonito flakes and serve immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While\u00a0in Japan\u00a0we usually\u00a0follow the same\u00a0eating pattern: restaurant for lunch and\u00a0izakaya for\u00a0dinner. Izakaya could be\u00a0described as the equivalent of a pub,\u00a0but no one goes there only…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,125,183,133,85,18],"tags":[45,94,115],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18299"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18315,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18299\/revisions\/18315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}