You'll need all this (plus some butter that I didn't bother to put in the pic):
One head of napa cabbage
2 packages of Ramen noodles (I prefer the oriental flavor, but I'm sure any flavor would be fine)
1 bunch of green onions
1/4 Cup slivered almonds
1Tbsp. sesame seeds
1/2 Cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup canola oil (I would normally use extra virgin olive oil but the taste doesn't work with this salad)
1/2 Cup water
3-4 Tbsp. butter (I usually use 4, but you could probably get by with 3)
The first thing you'll do is shred the cabbage. Nice and thin shreds, you want something very close to taco-shreds. I don't use a grater, it's easy with a good, sharp chef knife. You also need to slice up your green onions. I used pretty much the entire bunch; there are a lot of mouths to feed 'round here, and that was a pretty hefty cabbage!
After you get your greens in a bowl, take a mallet and carefully (you will burst the bag and it'll explode into a huge mess all over your kitchen if you whack it too hard) break up both packages of ramen noodles IN the bags. You don't want to pulverize it, but you do want it pretty well broken up. You'll then melt the butter in a skillet, add ONE packet of the ramen noodle seasoning, add in the noodles, almonds, and sesame seeds and cook at a mediumish heat (stirring very frequently) until you get a nice, golden color throughout. Like this:
Take the skillet off the heat to cool, and get out a bowl and whisk to assemble your salad dressing. Combine the other packet of ramen noodle seasoning with the vinegar, sugar, water, and oil and whisk vigorously to dissolve the sugar. Transfer to some sort of bottle that you can pour from with a lid that you can close and shake to re-incorporate the liquids. They will separate rather quickly as they stand. This was after two minutes:
Now you're ready to get that salad in your bowl and EAT! Top a handful of salad with a good sprinkling of the crunchies, then drizzle some dressing on top .... ENJOY! (OOOOOH, this is yummy; makes me want to lick my screen!!!!)
