Potlucks fill me with dread. Although I hate the spotlight, I want my dish to shine. The intelligent solution would be to bring something tried and true, but as Wes points out, I have no repertoire. I’m a curious omnivore, always trying something new.

I do have certain tendencies, though. Everyone likes to bring dessert, and since I worry about people eating all cakes and pies and the occasional takeout tamal, I tend to bring vegetables. The closest thing I came to a potluck standby was a shredded carrot salad from Julie Sahni’s Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking, but I’m kind of between mandolines right now, which makes that way too much trouble.

So when Wes came home the other day and said that his friend Dan was having a potluck in two days, ordinarily I would have sunk into depression and rage. Instead I was kind of excited. You see, a couple of days before that, I had gone to a different Ralph’s supermarket than I usually go to. It was raining, so I went to one with an underground garage.

And when I entered the produce section I saw it: young ginger. Organic, too.

I had looked for young ginger earlier in the summer, after my friend Daveena and I had a delicious Burmese ginger salad at Mandalay restaurant in San Francisco. Shredded young ginger and green chiles and fried peas, shallots and garlic were all tossed together at our table to make an incredible salad that sent us into sensory overload. Back in L.A., I hit every Thai grocery in town looking for young ginger, with no luck. I had almost forgotten.

So here was my golden opportunity. Internet research yielded three reliable-looking recipes: one from Saveur by James Oseland, whose Southeast Asian cookbook has gotten great reviews; one from some hotel called The Strand, cited in both the New York Times and Gourmet; one from Mandalay restaurant; and another from Mai Pham in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Ginger salad should include ginger, of course, but beyond that there’s room for variation. I’m sure in Burma - oops, Myanmar - every household has a different version. I scoffed at the Strand for recommending Japanese pickled ginger, like the pink stuff you get in sushi restaurants, but after thinly slicing and soaking my ginger in lime juice for several days as Oseland and Pham recommend, I noticed it turned the same delicate pink. The pickled stuff would be sweeter than just lime-marinated ginger, but the sweetness might be a welcome element, perhaps mellowing the other flavors. Plus, it may be easier to find in some areas than young ginger. As for the fried legumes, yellow split peas, lentils, and small chickpeas (channa dal) are variously called for. I went out and bought some split peas, then realized I probably would’ve done just fine with the mung beans that were in my cupboard. And then there was cabbage. Pham calls for it, but none of the others do - it sounded suspiciously inauthentic to me. Still, young ginger is expensive (I think it was $10/lb) and I was cooking for a group, so I figured I could use the cabbage to stretch the salad. Her recipe also has fried coconut, and everybody likes coconut, right?

Traditional ginger salad is an ensemble piece - ginger defines it but isn’t supposed to be the main ingredient. It’s pretty intense. Using cabbage makes this more like a Western-style salad, and tones down the flavors a bit for those who might not like it funky. I like it both ways, but I’m giving the “party” version here.

Ginger salad
(gin thoke)
Feeds a crowd

5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
5 shallots, thinly sliced
1 cup yellow split peas or similar legume, soaked overnight, then drained and dried
1/2 cup chopped fresh coconut, or dried unsweetened flakes (optional)
3 TB dried shrimp, pounded into small flakes (optional)
4 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
3 cups pickled ginger or thinly sliced young ginger, soaked in lime juice for a few days and then julienned
3 cups thinly sliced cabbage, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes (optional)
Juice of 2 limes
4 TB fish sauce
1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Deep-fry the garlic, shallots, peas and coconut in separate batches. The garlic, shallots and coconut should be brown (dried coconut cooks in a flash); the peas should be golden brown (4-5 minutes). Toss with the remaining ingredients - add lime juice and fish sauce gradually, mixing and tasting as you go for the right balance. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Mandalay
4348 California Street
San Francisco
(415) 386-3895