Chinese Cole Slaw or Ramen Noodle Slaw or Ramen Noodle Salad or...

I don't know what to call this dish.  I'm sure you all have heard of it and each of you by a different name.  All I know, it's good!  I don't do cole slaw, really.  You see, I don't do mayonnaise, and cole slaw, by it's nature, must have mayonnaise in it.  However!  There is a cole slaw that doesn't have any mayonnaise in it, at all, and it's so yummy!  This is a great salad to serve for summer cookouts and baby showers and birthday parties.  Give it a try if you haven't!  (Maybe I'll make this for Nora's 3rd birthday party!?)

Chinese Cole Slaw

Ingredients:

Dressing:
1/2 cup of canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons of soy sauce (I use light)
3 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of rice wine, red wine or white vinegar (I use red wine vinegar)
1 package of Ramen noodles chicken flavor seasoning



Salad:
1 tablespoon of butter
1 pkg. Ramen noodles without seasoning, crushed
1 small pkg. slivered or sliced almonds  (approximate 1/4 cup)
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1 (16 oz.) pkg. cole slaw mix OR 1 small head cabbage and two carrots, shredded
2-3 green onions, chopped with tops

In a small bowl, mix oil, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and seasoning packet from Ramen noodle soup and set aside. Combine chopped onions and cole slaw/cabbage mix. In a small pan, melt butter.  Saute almonds and sesame seeds in butter until lightly browned.  Just before serving, add dressing a little at a time to the cole slaw mix. Don't use too much or your salad will get too soggy.  Then add the nuts and the crushed noodles from the soup mix.
This salad is best when mixed right before serving.

***To crush my Ramen noodles, I usually place the plain, dry noodles in a ziploc bag, then either use my hands or a spoon  to break them up into pieces.
***I love to use olive oil over other oils whenever possible, but in my opinion, olive oil is just too dense and over-powering to use in this recipe.
***This recipe easily doubles.