Mission Chinese Food’s Cabbage Salad Recipe (2024)

Should the kasha be cooked before being fried?

Kasha may be sold as whole buckwheat groats or milled to a finer consistency. What kind of Kasha is called for here?

Hi Juliet! Great question — and you're right, the ingredient list is ambitious! As Danny Bowien is quoted in the accompanying article (link below!), “I’m not a chef who makes you do it exactly the way I say... You’re just looking for flavor and texture. I’m going to improvise. You should, too. You could put potato chips on there.." Skip the seaweeds, and this recipe will still be plenty delicious (and umami-rich!) with the miso, tahini and anchovies. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27

I made this because I had a red cabbage left over in the garden, and was shocked at how much we liked it. I used Japanese Rice Seasoning to flavor the furikake and we absolutely loved the crunchies that resulted. No pre-cooking required and now I'm imagining all the other recipes I can use them on! I'd like to try shaving the cabbage next time and seeing what that does. Highly recommend!

This recipe sounds like something for people who live in New York or San Francisco, but not Tennessee. I don't even know what hijiki seaweed, shiro shoyu, ume vinegar, aomori seaweed or shio kombu are. (I do know tahini and miso paste. Not a total redneck.) How about I just use oil and vinegar?

Passed on the kasha because I couldn't find the buckwheat in my great local store and didn't know if bulgar would work the same, so added slightly reheated leftover rice and sliced nori. Simply wonderful dressing made this a really great one-dish meal.

I've made this a couple times now, with about half of the fancy ingredients and variations on the vegetables. The furikake is amazing (I didn't have kombu), and the whole salad is delicious every time, even with my creative adaptions! I like to add chickpeas to make it a wonderful summer meal.

Yes the kasha needs to be cooked, but not to the point of mush.

Kalamata olives make a good sub for anchovies.

Despite the beautiful photo and seemingly wonderful ingredients, I wasn't a fan. Perhaps my kasha was too crunchy and weird. It was a chore to eat it.

Too many precious ingredients. The dressing is more than enough. I also julienned the cabbage and blanched it and it was quite delicious with just the dressing. I topped it with crushed peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.

Loved the crunchy kasha against the smooth beets and rough cabbage. Used Black sesame since tahini which is a concentrate of sesame and wanted another flavor layer. The contrast was beautiful and added further interest. Extra lemon is helpful to bring out the Unami of it all.

We can’t do citrus, so added rice vinegar instead, added two slices radishes, didn’t find hijiki, so used finely chopped kelp and dukes flakes. To the kasha we added just a touch of maple syrup, black sesame seeds and some Korean red pepper flakes. We really enjoyed it!

First time didn't have tahini; loved it. Second time used tahini, not as tasty. Tripled the amount of hijiki -- love hijiki!

Any swap for the anchovies?

Made this today with some of the suggestions from the comments. I didn’t have kasha, so I used crispy chickpeas (done in the oven with the same treatment as the kasha), and quickly blanched the cabbage because raw cabbage unless shredded, is usually too much chewing for me. Otherwise follows directions, and it turned out really well! I have about half the dressing left and half a cabbage, so maybe will try shredded and raw next time. Also want to try the peanuts!

What is the ingredient Kasha? A Google search says it's a cat that comes and eats those who die of evil deeds...

Considering the array of ingredients, if you intend to make this recipe, it might help to own an Asian grocery store.

I just made this cabbage salad, substituted quinoa for the kasha, added a few more teaspoons of rice vinegar to the dressing to thin it out, YUM! I'm a *mostly* macrobiotic cook so I had all the exotic ingredients but since my partner doesn't like sea vegetables, I left them out.This is a beautiful, delicious salad, I decided to make it because of the photo. It was fun to slice the beets on the mandoline. I plan to make the dressing again today to have on hand for this week's other meals

I never cared for Mission Chinese. People in SF go banans, but I've never found it very satisfying and often there isn't much on the menu that wouldn't leave me hungry or with a headache. It is very Male Chef Masculine type food, and really is much like this recipe. A bunch of ingredients, but really just a plate of cabbage. No thanks.

salad delicious without all ingredients. See notes.

it should be buckwheat groats. If you can't find them, I think quinoa could work in a pinch

Riffed quuuiiite a bit on this recipe (pantry constraints) and it still turned out great! I used roasted beets and lightly charred the cabbage in wedges (personal preference over raw). For hijiki, I subbed in some chopped capers and a pinch of instant dashi. I used Chinese black vinegar + rice vinegar for depth, and I ended up only using 4-5 anchovies. Lastly, I used steel cut oats in the furikake (soaked and then fried) and it turned out fantastic.

This was fun! Definitely had to sub many items. Used cooked barley instead of kasha and it was delicious. I might fry it up next time No sweet miso to be found so I used a little peanut butter and increased the rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Delicious sauce. I think I’ll roast the beets next time but did love the lemon juice accent on them. Loved the agency to play with the recipe written right into the recipe itself!

Had 1/4 each of red and green cabbages that needed to be used so cut those up and was feeling super lazy in 110 degree heat so just sprinkled Trader Joe's furikake on top, no beets to be had. The dressing is really nice, and the cabbage holds up well for leftovers--just add more dressing as it does dry a bit. Added cilantro, pistachios and a fried egg for day 3 leftovers--was great.

I used “medium granulation” milled kasha and did not boil or steam before frying. The kasha furikake is delish and so good on white rice. 1/2 red cabbage was good for two people for a healthy and substantial side dish. Dressing is strongly flavored. I used brown miso and so perhaps it’s more sour, but we liked it.

Inspiring recipe! Used carrot ginger dressing, grated more ginger. Dressed skinned chickpeas before adding to dressed salad. Subbed black rice (could also use bulgar), added rice seasoning to cooking water, aunori and gomasio before serving. To the red Napa cabbage, I added daikon cut in sticks, shredded carrots instead of beets (didn't have), slivers of red onion (scallions next time?), lots of lemon juice. Next time will also add cucumbers dressed in soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds.

I used yellow beets instead of candy striped ones which I couldn't find in this season (red ones bleed too much). Looks even more beautiful and tastes good.

Too many precious ingredients. The dressing is more than enough. I also julienned the cabbage and blanched it and it was quite delicious with just the dressing. I topped it with crushed peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.

Some of us who have had this salad at the restaurant have loved it and want to know how to make it...those who haven't should not gripe about the unfamiliar ingredients.