Make Breaker Breaker’s Cabbage and Crispy Rice Salad

The delightful flavor is enhanced by crunch to create a crowd favorite.

My friends and I are loving everything about Breaker Breaker. When we eat there, we feel like we’ve made it to a great beach bar but we haven’t even left town. And there’s something on the menu that appeals to everybody. A favorite is the cabbage and crispy rice salad. It’s got a little bit of everything flavorful and crunchy, and all that adds up to a really satisfying dish.

— Samantha Williams, Decatur

Chef Maximilian Hines shared the recipe for this salad and explained that the inspiration for its creation was to provide a vegan alternative to their Caesar salad. “We wanted something that would be super fresh and light while also being really flavorful. It’s been on the menu since we opened and I think customers really enjoy it because it’s a healthier option and guests can opt to add their choice of protein as well, so it’s really versatile.”

As the chef mentions, as with all salads at the restaurant, guests can choose to add shrimp, fish, roast chicken or chicken tenders to the salad. Our photo shows it with blackened shrimp.

Hines recommends using a mandoline to produce the most uniform slices of cabbage and suggests using parboiled rice because those grains hold up better for frying. Ben’s Original and Dixie Lily are two widely available brands of parboiled rice, also referred to as converted rice. Preparing the rice is a two-step process. Cook the rice one day, then refrigerate and fry it the next day. That’s necessary because freshly cooked rice will not hold its shape for frying.