Salad In The Limelight

Back by popular demand! The asian inspired salad.

That would be my demand, of course. I'm the only one who eats my fabulous lunches.

Kerri and Ethan asked about the recipe. I had neglected to say it was posted here at Flickr, with the original pictures, but I will post it on the blog, as well.

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Asian Inspired Salad

A very loose hybrid of a fresh kimchee recipe and a Thai peanut sauce

Salad Portion ~ a loose & adaptable recipe (I don't actually measure things):
~2-3 cups shredded napa cabbage
~1-2 cup green cabbage
sliced onion to taste
~1/3 cup dried cranberries

today's version (above) adds 10 almonds, chopped, and 1 mandarin orange, pulled into segments.

sauce:
~2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
~1 Tbsp reduced sodium Tamari (soy sauce)
~1 Tbsp light agave nectar (or honey)
~1 tsp creamy peanut butter
~1 tsp minced garlic
~1 tsp minced fresh ginger
a few shakes dried red pepper flakes (1/4 tsp?)
a few shakes whole mustard seed (1/4 tsp?)
a few more shakes (1/2 tsp?) sesame seed

today's version omits the peanut butter and adds just a few drops dark sesame oil. It's good, but I really like it best with the peanut butter.

blend sauce together and pour over salad. Eat fresh or let sit awhile.

Obligatory Kimodification notes: This salad is good with lettuce, and probably with spinach, although I'm not a big fan of it, myself. I love it with Bok Choy, and it adds a great dark green contrast. If you aren't familiar with bok choy, this is a good way to try it. Anyway, use the veggies you like, I will not let you be bound strictly to my recipe. ;-) Oh, and the white "rib" parts of both napa cabbage and bok choy make great finger food for kids. They're similar in texture (but somewhat less stringy) than celery, but have a milder, less "celery-y" flavor. Often when I'm cutting up my salad, I have little hands reaching up to ask for pieces of the 'ribs'. You can't ask for better than kids asking for veggies!

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I was pondering trying to chronicle some of my better experiments with food. I know I've always posted recipes here and there (note to self, turn back on the old recipes entries) but it was more in a "Oooh, this turned out great" sort of way. But as few of you know, we're back to trying to eat a low fat, plant based diet, for health reasons. Not that we think meat is evil, or will eschew it forever (eschew, giggle) but that we won't eat it as part of our daily life & meals.

One of the most common reactions I get to that concept is "Oh, we couldn't do that!" to which I sometimes wonder, "Why not?" There are some great meals out there that don't contain meat and dairy and high fats. Tasty, healthy stuff. It's not all twiggy or plates of spinach. Of course, I've been posting salads, but that's because I like salads. Well, these, anyway. Of course, there are great, tasty meals out there that are high fat or high in animal products, too, I won't argue that. I have some posted in old entries. But that kind of recipe is pretty easy to find. I bet you already have some. And sometimes, when you go looking for vegetarian food, you find it's all cheese and eggs. Or it's all weird food from far away places. (Then again, maybe my salad seems weird to you). I'm striving to find a little core of "normal" plant based foods that we like. Comfort foods, staple foods, healthy foods.

Anyway, so what do you think? Are you interested? In seeing my food? LOL

Sounds kind of lame, put that way. :)

Posted by Kim at January 25, 2007 12:26 PM