MISSION CHINESE FOOD'S CABBAGE SALAD

Mission Chinese Food's Cabbage Salad image

Danny Bowien, the chef and an owner of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco and sometimes New York, wanted to have a Chinese version of Caesar salad on his menu. The dish that he and Angela Dimayuga, his executive chef, came up with is not Chinese in the least. Nor does it owe anything to Caesar save for a tin of anchovies. It is instead a Japanese ode to umami, the mysterious fifth flavor beyond sweet and salty, bitter and sour. Miso, tahini, soy sauce and dried seaweed provide a riot of flavors, and fried kasha and the raw vegetables provide copious crunch. Serve the dish alongside simple grilled chicken or pork, with a bowl of white rice. These don't even have to be all that good. You could serve this recipe alongside a teriyaki-glazed laptop case and receive plaudits for the meal. Don't have one of the ingredients? Omit! ''If you don't have it, leave it out,'' Bowien said in an interview. ''It still works.''

Provided by Sam Sifton

Time 45m

Yield 4 servings.

Number Of Ingredients 16

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Ingredients

1/2 head red cabbage
1 medium-size beet, ideally candy-striped
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon dried hijiki seaweed
1 teaspoon ume vinegar or red-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet white-miso paste
3 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon shiro shoyu or light soy sauce
8 anchovy fillets, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons neutral oil, like canola
1/2 cup kasha
2 tablespoons aonori seaweed, green seaweed or finely shredded nori
3 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
1 tablespoon shio kombu or salted kombu, optional
Pinch of salt, or to taste

Steps:

Cut cabbage in half, and remove core. Cut into 1-inch wedges and then into 1-inch pieces. Toss these lightly in a bowl, and set aside.
Under running cold water, scrub beet with a vegetable brush or paper towel. Trim the beet top and beet root to provide a flat base for slicing on a mandoline. Set thickness to 1/8 inch, and slice beets into flat rounds. Season beets with half the lemon juice, and add them to the bowl with cabbage. Set aside.
Make sesame-anchovy dressing. In a small bowl, cover hijiki with warm tap water. Allow to bloom for 15 minutes, then drain well, and season with ume vinegar or red-wine vinegar. Add miso, tahini, rice vinegar, shiro shoyu, the remaining lemon juice and the anchovies, and whisk to combine. Dressing should have a thick, almost mayonnaise-like consistency.
Make the kasha furikake. Pour neutral oil into a sauté pan, and place over medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. Pour kasha into the hot pan, and stir it quickly with a spoon to coat with oil. Allow kasha to fry in the oil, stirring constantly, until it has darkened by two shades of brown. Drain kasha through a fine strainer, and transfer to a plate covered by paper towel. While it is hot, season with the seaweed, which should adhere to the kasha. When it has cooled, mix kasha in a small bowl with the toasted sesame seeds and, if using, the shio kombu. Salt to taste.
Make the salad. Add 3 tablespoons of the sesame-anchovy dressing to the bowl with the cabbage and the beets, and mix well to combine. Add more dressing if necessary. Transfer the salad to a serving bowl, and sprinkle 4 tablespoons or so of the kasha furikake over the top. (Leftover kasha furikake may be passed at the table, or saved to eat over white rice.)