Asian Salad

Lately I have been trying to include a lot of salads and greens in our diet. For us, dinner every night has to have some sort of salad these days. Since it is part. of eating healthy, I avoid using rich , creamy dressings. A light vinaigrette kind of dressing that is full on flavour mixed with greens is my normal go to salad.

For a big part of the year, I have arugula, kale, chard and salad greens growing in my garden and I use the baby greens in my salads. As kale and chard grow bigger and leaves are no longer tender, I stop using those for salads. Spring and fall are perfect weather to grow tender leafy greens in the Pacific Northwest. Here is a picture of tender greens growing in my garden from this spring.

At this time of the year my garden is not producing enough for me to make a salad every night, so I stock up on greens from the grocery store. Other green salad elements that I like to keep in my refrigerator are cucumbers, celery and bell peppers. You can also add julienned or grated carrots for flavour and colour. Since I am trying to keep our salads keto friendly, I did not add carrots to my salad.

For this Asian salad, I used crunchy romaine hearts, along with cucumber, celery and some red onion. I sliced everything very thin, so that each forkful has a little bit of everything, rather than a big chunky piece of celery ( a big no no for my hubby 😜 ) . Once the base of the salad is ready, a good dressing can elevate the salad from boring to wow ! For me a combination of soy sauce, sesame oil , rice wine vinegar and ginger make up for perfect asian flavours. A bit of sweetener ( sugar/ Splenda) and heat from chilli flakes and black pepper make this into a delicious dressing.

I served it as a side, but you can add some grilled chicken, any other meat of your choice or pan fried tofu and make it into a meal. You can also add some fried wonton strips on top to give it an extra crunch 😋

Ingredients

1 Romaine Heart

1 Small Cucumber

2 Sticks Celery

2-3 fresh Button Mushrooms

1/2 Red Onion

Small handful Cilantro leaves

Small handful Basil leaves ( optional)

Dressing

1/4 Cup Rice wine Vinegar or Apple cider Vinegar

1/4 cup Sesame Oil

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tsp grated ginger root

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp sugar or 1 packet splenda

Salt, black pepper and chilli flakes to taste

Toppings

1 tbsp toasted Sesame seeds

Small handful roasted Cashews

Directions

1. Wash and dry romaine , cucumber, celery, and mushrooms, cilantro and basil leaves.
2. Slice everything thinly. I like to slice my celery at a diagonal, just for fun.
3. Put vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, smashed garlic , Splenda, salt , black pepper and chilli flakes in a jar and give everything a good shake. The dressing will emulsify .
4. Pour over your salad and mix thoroughly just before serving.
5. Top it off with toasted sesame seeds and cashews and serve right away.