Crispy Crunchy Asian Mashup Salad Recipe
This recipe is part of Crispianity: a column devoted to all foods crispy and crunchy, two of the most underappreciated attributes of a great dish. Author Adeena Sussman is a food writer and recipe developer, pairing here with her friend, photographer Evan Sung. Sussman's most recent cookbook, co-authored with Lee Brian Schrager, is Fried and True: More Than 50 Recipes for America's Best Fried Chicken and Sides.
Crunch doesn't always have to start with the deep-fryer. In fact, some of the most alluring examples come in the form of raw vegetables, which offer the advantage of (gasp!) nutritional value and gorgeous color. I've combined a bunch of them here, swapping out the hard-to-find young papaya so common in Asian salads with unripe mango, which you can buy in just about any supermarket.
I've been obsessed with crispy shallots since my travels in Thailand, where they're a sort of improved version of their distant American cousin, the Durkee Fried Onion. The Thai ones are much lighter and crispier; rather than being coated in flour, they're simply fried in oil. You can buy them stateside at Asian markets, but I wanted to experiment with making them at home. Deep-frying worked fine, but it seemed like an incredible waste of oil. Then a Thai friend told me that home cooks sometimes microwave the shallots with the same results, and I'm happy to report after trying it that it works like a charm. Using way less oil (and making far less of a mess), the microwave method yields crispy strands of shallot that you'll want to put on everything — or simply eat as a snack.
For the dressing, I've combined gochujang (spicy Korean fermented bean and rice paste) with Vietnamese fish sauce, making it a greatest-hits compilation of funky, pucker-inducing Asian kitchen staples. I also add chopped peanuts, because when it comes to adding crunch, you can never gild the lily too much.
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon gochujang (spicy Korean fermented bean paste)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce (preferably Red Boat)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 cloves garlic
- 6 shallots
- canola oil to cover
- 1 small mango
- 4 large-ish carrots (about 3/4 pound)
- 1/2 small head Napa cabbage (1/2 pound)
- 1/2 small head red cabbage (3/4 pound)
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup mint leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 4 scallions
- 1/2 cup toasted peanuts
- Combine all ingredients in a jar, seal tightly and shake until emulsified.
- Pat the shallots dry between layers of paper towels and arrange them in a shallow layer in a glass baking dish or large, very shallow bowl (like a pasta bowl); make sure the bowl fits in your microwave before you get too far in the process because nothing is worse than making extra dishes before you even cook anything.
- Pour just enough oil over the shallots to cover (not by an inch, folks – just to cover) and microwave on high for 4 minutes.
- Check that shallots aren’t too dark (watch out, since this can happen really fast), then continue to microwave in 30 second intervals until the shallots turn a deep golden color, probably an additional 90 seconds to 2 minutes depending on the microwave. The shallots will continue to darken slightly after you take them out of the oven, so please don’t overdo it here.
- Drain the shallots and dry on paper towels until they crisp up (thich they will, don't worry).
- Store unused shallots in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
- Get your hands on a julienne peeler if you can. Peel the mango and carrots, and shred them using the peeler to create really nice long vegetable shreds (applying as much pressure while peeling makes the strands a little thicker, which is a good thing). If you don’t have one, just use a box grater.
- In a large bowl combine the mango and carrots with the napa cabbage, red cabbage, scallions, mint and basil.
- Toss with the dressing, shallots and peanuts and serve immediately.
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