Chinese Liang Cai is a cold salad delicious combination of Napa cabbage, cucumbers, pork, and vermicelli noodles.
The major difference between liang cai and salads is the dressing. Most of the flavor for the dressing in liang cai comes from the marinated pork. The meat houses a ton of flavor, and I like to amplify that flavor in the whole dish!
If you are vegan then the obviously the pork must be left out. A great substitute is to use baked tofu. Baked tofu is great because they usually come pre-flavored and ready to eat!
Key ingredients for Chinese liang cai:
- Napa Cabbage
- Napa cabbage is the star of the show! You can find this in most grocery stores now. It is much longer than a traditional cabbage and usually more white.
- Cucumbers
- Cucumbers add a nice crunch and freshness to this salad.
- Vermicelli noodles
- This is quite possible the best part about this salad! Who doesn’t love noodles? Vermicelli is a very thin, almost translucent noodle with a nice chew to it.
- Pork
- All you need is a little bit of pork cut up in to little strips. This pork is marinated and then sautéed to bring the perfect flavor to this salad.
- Green onion, garlic, and ginger
- Are we surprised here? These three ingredients are essential in Chinese cooking. They are essential for sauces, stir fry’s, dumplings, and more!
- Cilantro
- I love adding cilantro as a topper! It makes it look pretty and adds a nice touch of freshness.
- Soy sauce
- A lot of the flavor comes from soy sauce! I love the umami and salty flavor it brings.
- Black vinegar
- A little bit of this goes a long way, and it adds the perfect acidic kick to this dish!
- White pepper
- I LOVE WHITE PEPPER. It is by far my favorite seasoning to flavor any of my Asian dishes.
- Sesame oil
- The flavor of sesame oil is so unique and strong. A little bit of this goes a long way so you don’t want to over do it.
- Sugar
- This is a key ingredient that people often miss! This helps the sauce become glossy and adds the perfect amount of sweetness to a savory dish.
- Chili oil
Chinese Liang Chai
Chinese Liang Cai is a cold salad delicious combination of Napa cabbage, cucumbers, pork, and vermicelli noodles.
Ingredients
Pork Marinade
- 2 oz pork cut into thin strips
- 1 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 stalk green onion diced
- 1 slice ginger minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¼ tsp Szechuan pepper
- 1 tsp sugar or coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Salad
- 8 Napa cabbage leaves
- 1 English cucumber
- ¼ cup shredded carrot
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic pressed
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp chili oil
Vermicelli Noodles
- 4 oz vermicelli noodles
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp black vinegar
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic diced
Instructions
- Start by marinating the pork with everything under the pork marinade ingredients group except for the green onion, garlic, and ginger
- Then in a large bowl start soaking the vermicelli noodles to let them soften.
- Take each Napa cabbage leave and slice the stem in half horizontally. Then from the base of the leaf chop into small strips. The thinner the better. Repeat for all the leaves. Then thinly slice the cucumber into small slivers. Dice up the garlic or use a garlic press.
- Add the oil to a frying pan and fry the green onion, garlic, and ginger. Then add the pork and stir fry. This takes about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Boil some water, and cook the vermicelli noodles for 3-5 minutes. Once they are done drain the water and rinse with cold water. Take some scissors and cut the noodles a few times to shorten them. Season the noodles with a drizzle of black vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, and garlic.
- In a very large serving bowl, place in the napa cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, noodles, cilantro, and garlic. Then pour on the pork, soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, sugar, salt, and chili oil. Mix everything together until everything is well combined.
- Enjoy!
