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Tiger salad is my go-to for a quick and easy healthy meal. It‘s delightfully crunchy, savory, and tangy, and you can whip this up in less than 15 minutes in 3 easy steps. Prepare the dressing and the 5 mains: bell peppers, onions, coriander, peanuts, and garlic.
What Is Tiger Salad (老虎菜)?
In Chinese, tiger salad is called “lao hu cai” (老虎菜). “Lao hu” means tiger, and “cai” means vegetable. It is a staple cold dish in China, especially in Northern China. You can have it as an appetizer or a side dish to your main meal.
There may be several versions of tiger salad, but one common thing you need to know is that it is made up of various thinly sliced vegetables and herbs.
For this recipe, I used green bell peppers, red bell peppers, large green onions, red onions, fresh coriander, peanuts, and garlic. You can prepare these ingredients ahead of time so it’s easy to whip it up the next you want it.
Of course, let’s not forget about the salty, tangy, and nutty dressing. I made the dressing with light soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and bouillon powder. It is the perfect balance of contrasting flavors and textures, so what’s not to love about it?
Want more hearty vegetable recipes like tiger salad? Check out these delicious salad dishes and cooked vegetable recipes:
- Lotus Root Salad With Hot & Tangy Dressing
- Celtuce Salad
- Green Papaya Salad With Oil-Free Dressing
- Spiral Cucumber Salad
- Spicy Chinese Pig Ears Salad
- Hot & Crispy Bitter Melon Salad
- Celtuce Stir-Fry
- Stir Fry Chayote
- Boiled Okra With Spicy Savory Sauce
- Cooked Lettuce With A Garlicky Dressing
- Malabar Spinach With Oyster Sauce
- Stir Fry Sweet Potato Leaves With Garlic
How To Customize The Salad Ingredients
What’s great about salads is that you can choose and change the ingredients according to your preference. Whether you want to add more green leafy vegetables or incorporate protein, it’s totally up to you! Just remember, the ingredients should be julienned or thinly sliced.
Why? Since it is a salad, you should be able to swoop all the ingredients in one bite, whether you are using a fork or chopsticks. Moreover, thin slices make it easier to absorb the dressing and have more flavor for its small size.
Here’s how to customize the ingredients:
- Bell pepper: I thinly sliced green and red bell peppers. You can also use yellow bell peppers as an alternative. Make sure to remove the seeds and stem and wash the bell pepper thoroughly. Aside from bell peppers, you can also use julienned carrots.
- Onion: I used a combination of thinly sliced large green onions and red onions. I love red onion for its subtle sweetness and mild taste, while large green onions for their lovely deep, strong taste. You can also use white onions to have a sweeter and more savory flavor profile. Aside from these regular onions, you can opt for chopped green onions or shallots.
- Coriander: A tasty herb that I like to add is chopped fresh coriander. It may have a soapy taste, but it is also tart and lemon-like. You can swap fresh coriander for other chopped herbs or vegetables, such as dill, parsley, mint, scallion, cilantro, or basil.
- Peanuts: Use any type of peanut you like, such as Runner, Spanish, Valencia, and Virginia. It is up to you if you like boiled, roasted, or salted. You can also substitute peanuts with cashews, Brazil nuts, pili nuts, and sunflower seeds. If you have a peanut allergy, I recommend cooked chickpeas. A cup of chickpeas is great for extra protein and fiber. To prepare chickpea, simply boil it until soft. However, you can also buy canned chickpeas to skip the boiling step.
- Garlic: Slices of raw garlic make the salad nutty, earthy, and pungent. I also thinly sliced the garlic, but you can mince it if you like. The salad can also be prepared with pre-cooked crispy fried garlic if you have one on hand.
- Optional ingredients: For more variety, add some thinly sliced celery and cucumber. If you want to make it hot and spicy, I recommend mixing in some chopped chili peppers or classic Chinese chili oil.
- Dressing: The dressing is a mix of light soy sauce, vinegar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and bouillon powder. Adjust the seasonings according to your liking, whether you like it salty or tangy.
- Light soy sauce: Light soy sauce makes the dressing salty and umami. You can also use tamari, liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or gluten-free soy sauce.
- Chinese black vinegar: The vinegar that I used is Chinese black vinegar, also known as Chinkiang vinegar or Zhenjiang vinegar. It is slightly different from regular vinegar since it is fruity, tangy, and slightly sweet. You can buy this in Asian stores or in the international section of grocery stores. If you can’t find Chinese black vinegar, use white vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, date vinegar, or red wine vinegar.
- Oyster sauce: Adding oyster sauce makes a big difference to the dressing with its umami, salty, and briny taste. It tastes like a combination of soy sauce and barbecue sauce. To replace oyster sauce, the closest alternatives you can use are hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, kecap manis, Worcestershire sauce with soy sauce and sugar, oyster-flavored sauce, or fish sauce.
- Sesame oil: Just a teaspoon of sesame oil is needed to make the dressing nutty, toasty, and earthy. It has a strong flavor profile, so you may want to go easy with it. If you add too much, it may overpower the other ingredients. Go for plain sesame oil or sesame oil with sesame seeds for that extra crunch.
- Salt: To bring out the flavors of the ingredients, add some salt. Use any type of salt, such as sea salt, pink salt, and kosher salt.
- Bouillon powder: Bouillon powder is recommended if you want to enhance the dressing even more. In my recipe, I used chicken bouillon powder, but you can swap it with vegetable powder to make it vegan or vegetarian.
- Optional ingredients: If it is too salty, adjust the taste with a bit of sugar, such as brown sugar, coconut sugar, or muscovado sugar. You can also add a hint of acidity with lime or lemon juice.
Ingredients And Kitchenware To Prepare
Prepare your knife for slicing and your preferred serving bowl. If you like, wearing food-safe plastic gloves is a good idea to help you mix the dressing thoroughly with the chopped ingredients using your hand. Here are the ingredients to prepare:
- 1 green bell pepper (thinly sliced)
- 1 red bell pepper (thinly sliced)
- 1 large green onions(thinly sliced)
- 1 red onion (thinly sliced)
- 1 bunch of coriander (2-inch cuts)
- peanuts (about half a cup)
- 4 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
- 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of vinegar
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 1 tsp of sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/4 tsp of bouillon powder
3 Easy Steps To Make Tiger Salad (老虎菜)
Once you have all the fresh ingredients chopped, adding the dressing is easy-peasy. That is why I recommend chopping the fresh ingredients ahead of time so you can have tiger salad anytime, and most importantly, fast! Learn how I did the recipe by watching my tutorial video on Instagram or TikTok.
What do you think of this tiger salad variation? If you loved this recipe, remember to click the Like button and share your thoughts in the comments section with the tag @kitchenmisadventures.
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- Chop the fresh ingredients into thin slices: green bell pepper, red bell pepper, large green onions, red onion, coriander, and garlic.
- Chop the fresh ingredients into thin slices: green bell pepper, red bell pepper, large green onions, red onion, coriander, and garlic.
Transfer them to your chosen serving bowl. Then, add peanuts and slices of garlic.
Add the dressing and adjust to taste: light soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and bouillon powder. Mix the dressing well with your hand and serve fresh.
Make Tiger Salad With 5 Basic Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 large green onions thinly sliced
- 1 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 bunch of coriander 2-inch cuts
- peanuts about half a cup
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp bouillon powder
Instructions
- Chop the fresh ingredients into thin slices: green bell pepper, red bell pepper, large green onions, red onion, coriander, and garlic.
- Transfer them to your chosen serving bowl. Then, add peanuts and slices of garlic.
- Add the dressing and adjust to taste: light soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, oyster sauce, sesame oil, salt, and bouillon powder. Mix the dressing well with your hand and serve fresh.
