Asian Green Salad

Joe at work brought this recipe from a furniture shopping spree. The salad is served in a restaurant adjacent to the furniture store and enough patrons - and apparently ambitioned cooks - seem to have asked for the recipe that the restaurant decided to share it. And Joe shared it with me. And I'm sharing it with you. It's like a recipe chain-letter! :-)))

Ingredients:

Dressing (original recipe in brackets - see Tip 2: ):
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon [2 cups] corn or canola oil
1/4 cup [3/4 cup] cider vinegar
1/2 cup [1 1/2 cups] white sugar
2 tablespoons [1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon] soy sauce

Topping:
2 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 package ramen noodles (minus the seasoning packet), crumbled up
2 tablespoons almond slices
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Salad:
1 head napa cabbage, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 small can orange mandarines, drained

Tip 1: For a fruity twist and color accent, add a small can of orange mandarins, drained, to the salad!

Tip 2: The original recipe makes what seems to be an ocean of dressing. Below you will find the "trimmed-down" version, making just the right amount of dressing for one large head of napa cabbage. If you feel that's this is still too much dressing for your taste, simply do not use all of it when tossing your salad. ;-)

Preparation:

Dressing
Mix all indredients and boil for one minute. Let cool in refrigerator.

Topping
Melt the margarine or butter and add the noodles, alonds, and sesame seeds. Brown in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, stirring twice.

Salad
Just before serving, combine salad with dressing and top with the topping.