Rich, velvety sesame sauce with cool and crisp lettuce: this is a perfect starter or cold-weather salad. You might recognize this flavor in the form of cold Chinese peanut noodles... delish. <br /> <br />The traditional vegetable used for this salad is called youmaicai (yo-MAI-TSAI; 油麦菜); specifically, Lactuca sativa L. If your Chinatown market doesn’t have this guy’s sibling, just look for its cousins, which would be any sort of long, firm and crispy lettuce like romaine hearts and baby gem. <br /> <br />Note that Chinese sesame paste is different from tahini -- the Chinese way is to roast the seeds first before processing to coax out a deep, rich aroma. So pop down to your Chinatwon market and grab an inexpensive pot of it!

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