A Harmony of Flavors

Vietnamese Avocado Cabbage Salad 

Green Cabbage (Left); Purple Cabbage (Right)

Hanoi in spring, coats on a picture of blooming cherry blossom, families purchasing goods, and markets filled with flamboyant flowers, and ingredients. Spring is also the time when Hanoi citizens celebrate their long-lasting culinary traditions and cultural values. As an illustration, Chung cake—a traditional Vietnamese rice cake, with pork meat and green beans, wrapped in bamboo leaves—is considered as an indispensable Lunar New Year’s cuisine. However, besides having those traditional Vietnamese cuisine, as a vegetable-lover, my grandma always prepares for the whole family her own entrée—Vietnamese avocado cabbage salad.

Avocado Purple Cabbage Salad

Grandma’s avocado cabbage salad was a simplified version of the traditional Vietnamese Avocado Zoodle Salad Bowl—a salad bowl, which consists of avocado, zucchini noodles, tofu and cabbage. With the same concept and ingredients, the Vietnamese avocado cabbage salad was simplified by removing the tofu and zucchini noodles and replacing the original vinegar dressing with yogurt-base dressing.

As written in my grandma’s cooking notes, the recipes listed: ½ of unsweetened yogurt, ¼ cup of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar, mozzarella slices, garlic, pepper, and dill, together with two avocados, 2 green and red pepper each, and 8 ounces of cabbage. The preparation procedures of the dish are quite simple and straightforward. To begin, the first step is to slice the avocado and the chili peppers lengthwise in ½ inch slices. The next step is to separate the cabbage leaves and put all the main vegetables in a bowl. Then, whisk together yogurt, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, sugar, garlic, pepper, and dill in a small bowl in order to create the salad-dressing. The last step is to pour the salad-dressing into the vegetables and gently toss up the ingredients.

Avocado Green Cabbage Salad

Embedded with the sweetness of yogurt, sourness of white wine vinegar, spiciness of chili peppers, and balanced out with cabbage and avocados, Vietnamese avocado cabbage salad is certainly a harmony of flavors. Within approximately 15 minutes of preparation and 10 minutes of cooking, the salad is the dish that can be served for dinner and lunch entrée, or even as a road-snack. The salad is not exactly a traditional Vietnamese food; however, it is something nostalgic that evokes the memory of celebrating Lunar New Year’s Eve with my grandma when I am now 6000 miles away from home.

Nutrition Facts

Tyson Nguyen