Japanese Cabbage Salad

This simple and super fresh Japanese Cabbage Salad is a habit forming mix of crunchy cabbage, cucumbers, green onions, and sesame seeds in an irresistible dressing that’s made right in the bowl. While it comes together in a flash (chop some veggies, measure some seasonings, mix!) it is savoury and has a subtle but distinctive flavour that goes great with chicken and fish.

Japanese Cabbage Salad

I’ve eaten bowls of a similar salad more times than I can count at various Japanese restaurants and finally asked a server at one of them what went into the salad. They told me the ingredients but didn’t know how much of each went in, so I tinkered around with the ratios until I got the balance just so.

But let me tell you, it was no hardship tasting all the variations on the way to this final product. It’s crazy good and refreshing and goes with so many of my favourite fish and chicken dishes. My husband and I had to stop ourselves from polishing off an entire batch by ourselves!

Aside from the fact that it just plain tastes great, one of the best things about this salad is how quick it is to make. Chop your cabbage, cucumbers, and green onions. Measure the ingredients for the dressing into the bowl, and toss. Seriously. That’s it!

Japanese Cabbage Salad Dressing

Our recipe suggests that you grate your garlic and ginger on a microplane. This is the best way to make sure your garlic incorporates completely into your salad without having big chunks of it. If you don’t have a microplane, you can also use the finest rasp on a box grater, but it will take a while.

Alternately, if it’s tough for you to grate a little clove of garlic or a knob of ginger, you can purchase pre-made tubes of grated garlic and ginger in the produce section of your local grocery store. I’m starting to find little single portions of them in the freezer section of many stores as well. I like the frozen paste better than the tubes because it tastes so much fresher.

Speaking of frozen things tasting fresh, please try one of my all-time favorite kitchen tips. To make ginger easier to grate (and easier to keep on hand!) simply freeze it. I have a re-sealable grocery bag full of fresh ginger in my freezer at all times.

When I need fresh ginger for a dressing or sauce, I grab whichever finger of ginger is at the top of the bag in the freezer and grate whatever I need with my microplane. No need to peel; tough peel will curl back away from the “meat” of the ginger as you grate it! It creates piles of the finest, fluffiest grated ginger ever seen!

There is one crucial ingredient in this salad you may not be familiar with and that’s dashi powder. This classic ingredient in Japanese cuisine is integral to many miso soup and ramen recipes and does not have a ready substitute. It is made of edible kelp and dried bonito flakes. Think of the dashi in this dressing like chicken bouillon. It brings a level of savoriness that salt alone can’t deliver.

Savoy Cabbage Salad

I like to make our salad with savoy cabbage. Beautifully green savoy cabbage is slightly more delicate than green or Napa cabbage but still packs a lot of crunch. I have made this with the sweetheart, Napa, and green cabbage varieties. I loved them all, but I think savoy comes out on top.

While undeniably best when eaten the day it was made, this salad holds up well enough for lunches for a couple of days after, too.