I came across this recipe in my Flavours magazine sometime ago.
It sounded like a really great way to use purple (or is it called red) cabbage – I love purple coloured fruits and vegetables but I’ve never ever entertained the idea of stirfrying purple cabbage. It would certainly look quite weird!
So this Kechara salad was superbly simple and needed just a few ingredients – most of these you can find in your kitchen.
It’s not the heavy sort of Western salad (with creamy dressing). In fact this dressing will pique your taste buds. I figured it could be served as an appetizer or even with your heavier meat and sausage dishes as it cuts down the “jelak” factor due to its tangy-ness.
First, you need a cup of all these three vegetables:
- shredded purple cabbage
- shredded carrot
- shredded lettuce or romaine
Put all of these into a large stainless steel mixing bowl.
Into another bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee Plum Sauce, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of caster sugar. Combine well. Pour this dressing over your gorgeous tri-coloured vegetables.
Just before serving, toss in a handful of roasted peanuts.
Top with roasted seaweed (the kind you find as a snack in supermarkets) – use scissors to cut into smaller pieces.
Serve immediately.
It’s the perfect salad for days when you’re sick and tired of those mayo-thousand-island salads but want something refreshing to tickle and uplift your palate. The plum sauce and lemon juice just give the salad this amazing Asian taste which goes very well with heavier stuff like pork sausages or roast chicken.
If you are wondering why it’s called the Kechara salad, this recipe originated from the kind folks over at Kechara, a Buddhist organization in KL, which is run superbly like a good business. They own a vegetarian restaurant called Kechara Oasis too. They do a host of interesting things from publishing to dining.