Red cabbage and green bean slaw with a Thai peanut coconut dressing.
This salad has crisp veggies, sprouts, fresh herbs, and crunchy peanuts mixed with a Thai-style dressing flavored with ground peanuts, lemongrass, lime juice, and coconut milk.
In the recipe instructions below, the red cabbage gets soaked in cold water for 5-10 minutes. This process bleeds the color out of the cabbage, so it will not stain the other vegetables. I also give the option to mix in the dressing or serve it on the side. Once the dressing is mixed with the slaw, the cabbage will start to soften and, again, begin to bleed color.
I used store-bought salted, toasted peanuts for this slaw because that is most readily available in my area. If you have access to fresh peanuts, by all means, use them. To toast them, toss the peanuts with a little oil and salt and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Cool them completely before using them in this recipe.
The lemongrass, radish sprouts, and Thai basil may also be difficult to source. Here are some easy substitutions. If you cannot find lemongrass, omit it and add one teaspoon of lime zest and a little extra ginger. For the radish sprout, mung bean sprouts would be the tastiest substitution, but any sprout will do. The Thai basil can be swapped out for regular Italian or lemon basil.
Thai Style Green Bean Slaw
Ingredients
Slaw
- 10 cups red cabbage shredded 1/2 head
- 7 cup green beans blanched and sliced on a bias
- 1 1/2 cups radish sprouts
- 2 cups carrots shredded
- 1 cup peanuts toasted and chopped more for garnish
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Peanut Dressing
- 1 1/2 cups peanuts
- 2 tbsp lemongrass chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger chopped 2 inch piece
- 1 tsp garlic chopped
- 3 tbsp thai basil chopped
- 3 tbsp cilantro chopped
- 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
- 3 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/8 cup lime juice
Instructions
Slaw
- Soak the red cabbage in cold water for 5-10 minutes and drain. In a large bowl, toss all of the ingredients together. Mix with the dressing and serve immediately or drizzle the dressing over the top when ready to serve. Garnish the slaw with extra peanuts and cilantro.
Peanut dressing
- Grind the peanuts, ginger, garlic, and lemongrass in a food processor until smooth. Blend in all remaining ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.
