Chili Crisp Wedge (with crispy shallots and yogurt)

This recipe was featured in the Iceberg episode of The Recipe with Kenji and Deb. You can listen to it here.

The flavor combination of yogurt and Sichuan Málà Chli Oil is one that I can’t get enough of. It’s great on everything from hamburgers to meatballs to roasted carrots to grilled vegetables. In my book, The Wok, I combine it with cucumbers that are very lightly dressed with plenty of dill and fried peanuts.

The other night, as I was making an iceberg wedge salad with its traditional blue cheese dressing, it occurred to me that since iceberg works so well in recipes that typically call for cucumber, it was a prime candidate for the one-two flavor punch of yogurt and chili oil. Rather than dress it in yogurt alone, I decided to make a modified version of the Kochukaru Yogurt Ranch dressing from The Wok, omitting the kochukaru (Korean chili flakes) as I knew I’d be adding chili heat and flavor to the dish separately.

It came out better than I was expecting, especially after I added some radishes and split cherry tomatoes and topped it off with more dill and chives and a handful of crispy fried shallots (all salads should come with crispy bits by default)

If you really don’t want to make your own ranch, store-bought works well with chili crisp. Feel free to swap out the cilantro for a mix of dill and chives if you are one of those folks who hate cilantro.

Iceberg Wedge with Yogurt Ranch, Crispy Shallots, and Chili Crisp

Yield

Makes 1 large salad, serving 2 to 4

1 head iceberg lettuce, cut into wedges or thick slices

1/2 cup (120ml) Yogurt-Cilantro Ranch Dressing (see below)

1/3 cup (80ml) chili crisp or chili oil (homemade or store-bought are fine)

8 radishes, cut into 1/8ths

12 cherry or grape tomatoes, split

1/2 cup (about 50g) crispy fried shallots or fried onions (homemade or store-bought are fine)

Handful of roughly chopped cilantro leaves and fine stems

2 sliced scallions

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra chili oil to taste

Arrange the lettuce on a large serving platter. Spoon the Yogurt-Cilantro Ranch over the lettuce pieces. Drizzle with the chili oil. Sprinkle with the radishes, cherry tomatoes, fried shallots, cilantro, and scallions. Season with a generous grind of black pepper and more chili oil to taste.

Yogurt-Cilantro Ranch Dressing

Yield

Makes about 1 cup

Active Time

5 minutes

Total Time

5 minutes

This dressing is a riff on ranch made with yogurt in place of buttermilk and flavored with minced fresh cilantro leaves. It’s delicious as a dip for tempura (we use a similar one to serve it with our tempura sauerkraut at Wursthall) or for hot fried chicken sandwiches. It’s also just great on a simple salad or as a dip for raw vegetables. You can omit the MSG if you prefer, but I find that the MSG, along with the combination of granulated garlic and fresh garlic and plenty of black pepper is essential for that “ranchy” flavor.

INGREDIENTS

1⁄2 cup (120ml) full-fat Greek-style yogurt

1⁄4c up (60ml) mayonnaise

2 teaspoons (6g) granulated garlic

1 teaspoon (3g) granulated onion

2 teaspoons (5g) minced fresh garlic (about 2 medium cloves)

1⁄2 ounce (15g) fresh cilantro leaves and fine stems, minced

1 tablespoon (15ml) fresh lemon juice(from 1 lemon or lime)

1/4 teaspoon MSG (see note)

Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper (lots of it!)

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until homogenous. Season to taste with salt and (lots of!) black pepper. The dressing can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.