Best Asian Slaw
Packed with 8 veggies + a secret recipe for the slurpiest dressing inspired by a beachside kiosk in Mona Vale beach. Plus slaw techniques galore!
An Asian slaw is probably the most inauthentic Asian recipe you will find. I bet there is no instance of this airy and light salad of finely sliced veggies in the history of Chinese or Thai cuisine. It is best described as a mishmash of a traditional coleslaw but with a punchy Asian dressing that derives its flavours from a Thai nahm-jim sauce and a Chinese chilli garlic sauce. A very Australian recipe born out of the hip inner city and beach cafe culture here in Sydney.
The result is a bright, crunchy, fresh slaw packed with veggies and a slurpy dressing that is absolutely delicious. And healthy and light too - no peanut butter or sesame paste or oil. It has about 8 colourful veggies, a half cup measure of each, almost like a pound cake where you add a pound of each ingredient. There is no cooking involved and it is ready in roughly 10 minutes!
I first ate something similar at a Flower Power cafe in Dural. And then at a cafe in Redfern. And finally, at the beachside kiosk at Mona vale beach. This version was my favourite. Over the years, I would always order this salad on our beach trips. When we finally went back after Covid, the kiosk was gone. New construction had replaced the little fish-and-chips shack selling gorgeous homemade ice pops, battered calamari, hot chips and this salad. I was gutted.
I took it upon myself to recreate it exactly. I started by trying many different store-bought Asian dressings to warm up my palate. None came even close. For a long time, I wondered if sweet chilli sauce was one of the ingredients. It wasn’t! And then one summer exactly two years ago, as I mixed and tasted and adjusted and tasted, all the ingredients fell in place and this glorious slurpy Asian dressing was born.
This dressing is so good, I want to bottle and sell it! Instead, I am sharing this recipe with you hoping that it will bring you as much joy as it does me, every time I make it and watch people scoff it with delight!
Asian Slaw Techniques
A good slaw has hard veggies and no excess moisture other than the dressing itself. Here are some really useful techniques that will ensure your slaw remains in a perfect crunch state for a whole day or two after you mix it.