Siam Salad
On a recent trip to Kiawah Island, South Carolina, we stopped for lunch at Leon’s Fine Poultry & Oyster Shop in Charleston. The restaurant is the epitome of southern cool. Housed in an old auto body shop, with funky industrial light fixtures, concrete floors, an oyster shucking station and a garage door that opens to outdoor seating on the street, Leon’s is the kind of place where even the biggest fans of the Bravo series Southern Charm would feel completely uncool approaching one Austen Kroll–yes, we are the fans and yes, Austen was having lunch with a lady friend at the bar!
Star sighting aside, the Siam Salad at Leon’s was the true shining light. For me, this is the type of salad that dreams are made of. I’ll even end on a preposition to emphasize my point. The Siam Salad is just that good.
After wiping my bowl clean, I coyly asked our server if she might be so kind as to share the recipe with an out-of-town foodie who was instantly obsessed. She very politely explained that all employees have to sign a nondisclosure agreement to keep the Leon’s recipes in the vault. It’s that good, people! “No worries,” I thought, I’ve got good ole google. But after some repeated digging, I came up with various images of said salad, plenty of reviews and mentions in magazines, Yelp and Trip Advisor but the recipe was nowhere to be found. Okay, have no fear, I am a cook; I’ve got this.
The salad itself is simple. Shredded Napa cabbage, fresh mint, mandarin oranges, peanuts, avocado and fried shallots. I added some sliced scallions and omitted the red cabbage (because I forgot to buy). At Leon’s you can order the salad as is, or topped with chunks of their famous fried chicken, grilled chicken, steamed shrimp or fresh crab meat. At home, I decided to use a simple grilled salmon as my protein. But the dressing…that’s where the magic lies. I referred to various recipes for Asian dressings, marinades and dipping sauces and came up with what I think is a close approximation of Leon’s Siam Salad dressing. I’m not sure how it would do in a side-by-side taste test (boy, would I love to try!) but this dressing is pretty darn delicious, if I do say so myself.
So go ahead and make a big bowl of salad, dress the whole thing or individual servings as I did in hopes that the salad would last the week (it did not). This is the kind of salad which is more like a slaw and most recipes would instruct you to serve immediately upon dressing but since I like it just a little soggy, I dressed prior to cooking my salmon. It’s magically delicious! Enjoy!
Siam Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 head Napa cabbage, thinly slices
- 1 c mandarin orange sections (I used 2 fruit cups with no added sugar)
- 1/2 c toasted peanuts
- 1/2 c fresh mint leaves, julienned
- 1/3 c fried shallots (I used Lars crispy fried onions rather than making my own)
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
- 1/2 avocado, diced
- For the dressing:
- 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 c neutral oil (ie: canola or peanut)
- 2 Tbls sweet chili sauce
- 2 Tbls fish sauce
- 1 Tbls soy sauce
- 1 Tbls simple syrup*
- 1 Tbls grated ginger
- 1 Tbls toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- Optional:
- Grilled or fried chicken, steamed or grilled shrimp, grilled salmon or fresh steamed crab, as garnish
Instructions
- Layer the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Mix all of the dressing ingredients in a large measuring cup and then pour into a bottle for storing.
- Dress each portion of salad--or the entire bowl--to taste (the dressing is strong so you may want to add a little at a time until you get the right amount for your preference.
- Serve as is or topped with grilled/fried chicken, shrimp, crab or salmon.
Notes
*To make simple syrup, boil 1/2 c water with 1/2 c sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Store remainder in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use to sweeten iced tea, iced coffee or your favorite cocktails.
Follow
May 7, 2022 @ 10:00 am
I believe you’ve added too much to the salad dressing – I’ve made this salad many times and as far as I know, the dressing is really just fresh lime juice, simple syrup, fish sauce and salt & pepper. Also, I add fresh basil, mint & parsley to the salad. That’s it! Try it, you’ll be amazed!
May 7, 2022 @ 4:24 pm
I’m going to try that this week!
April 9, 2021 @ 6:03 pm
Managed to get the ingredients for this salad dressing from someone in the kitchen, tho not the quantities. I made it at home with sugar, peanut oil, samba oelek (hot chili sauce), lime juice and fish sauce. It is called Nuoc Cham. I just kind of winged it on quantities. I did not add ginger, toasted sesame oil or soy sauce, all which would have added to the already delicious flavor, but will next time. For the salad, I finely chopped Napa cabbage and purple cabbage, then added avocado, fried onion rings, chopped peanuts and a can of Mandarin oranges. At this time of year in New England, I can’t get fresh mint, but will next time. It was delicious, as is everything I’ve ever eaten at Leon’s. I’m a Connecticut girl, but go down to Charleston every spring.
June 23, 2019 @ 11:08 am
We recently spent a long weekend in charleston and I am now dreaming about going back just to eat at Leon’s again! I have been googling like crazy to try and find the recipe to their cucumber salad. It was a side dish my sister ordered and of all the things on the menu we tried, it was my favorite (ok, second to the char grilled oysters..) It was SO GOOD. I think I’ll try my hand at re-creating it and am for sure going to try out your recipe. Thank you!
June 23, 2019 @ 11:26 am
If you figure out the cucumber recipe, please share! I didn’t get to try them but would love to.
March 25, 2019 @ 12:59 pm
Dressing was delish! Used the leftovers for days on everything. Just signed my mother-in-law up for weekly emails. She’s looking forward to her first recipe.
March 28, 2019 @ 11:33 am
Im so glad that you liked it! I crave it!
March 4, 2019 @ 9:16 am
Wonderful! I think I will love it.