Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cabbage salad with spicy ginger dressing

Keeping in line with my last post in which I shared my unsolicited opinions on children's books, today I'm going to post a recipe that nobody asked for but really you should ask for. I try not to boss y'all around on what you should be eating (oh sure there was that lame poem I wrote urging you to eat oatmeal) but this recipe folks, you really must make. I've already made it twice in two weeks it's just that good! And this recipe comes directly from here but in case you are averse to clinking on links I'll provide the recipe below too.

Ingredients
  • 1 boneless chicken breast, skin removed  I used baked tofu in the sesame peanut flavor in place of chicken
  • 1 medium-sized Napa (or Savoy) cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 2 carrots, shredded
  • 1 small tomato, thinly sliced
  • 1 mango, thinly sliced
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
  • 2 tbsp. roasted sesame seeds
  • handful of fresh mint, chopped
  • handful of cilantro, chopped: I skipped the cilantro since I didn't want my salad to taste like soap :)
  • handful of roasted peanuts: I haven't put these one but imagine the crunch would be nice

Spicy Ginger Dressing
  • 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
  • 1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation
1. To poach chicken, place the breast in a small saucepan and add water, about 1 inch above the chicken. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiled, immediately lower heat to a very slow simmer and partly cover for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the chicken to cook in hot water for another 15 minutes. Once cooled, shred chicken and set aside. Save a chicken, cut up some tofu instead. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the spicy ginger dressing. If you don't want your salad spicy then just skip the Sriracha. I'm sure it will still be delicious. 
3. Add the cabbage, chicken tofu, carrots, tomato, mint and cilantro to the large bowl and toss gently. Top with mango slices and roasted peanuts. Garnish with scallions and roasted sesame seeds, and serve immediately.


A few notes: Sure it seems like you are doing a lot of chopping and there are a lot of ingredients but the end product is so worth it! And you can add or substitute vegetables as you like. I added broccoli and red bell pepper the second time I made it. Two things you really shouldn't skip or change out are the mango and mint. These two ingredients really add a nice summery, refreshing taste to the salad. And there you have it, the most delicious thing you'll eat all summer. And best of all, you can eat a lot and not feel guilty because this salad is super low in calories. If any of you decide to make it come back and leave a comment about what you thought of it. 

4 comments:

  1. Nice. I made this last weekend and got the best cardio I've had all year. Seriously, you gotta work. But it was refreshing. Spent $3.60 on a Florida mango from the farmer's market, but oh mercy if that wasn't the best thing ever. Overall, I give this recipe a B+. I have a feeling your version turned out better.

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  2. Perhaps recipes llike these are why my cardiovascular health was rated excellent by my fitness evaluation yesterday. And my love of eating must explain why my body fat % put me into the obese category.

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  3. Thinking of you as I stirred peanut butter into my oatmeal this morning. Now that, my friend, was truly disgusting and I will not be doing it again :). This, however, looks delicious and will go on the short list.

    PS. Buy a mandoline and this recipe will be much less physically exhausting :).

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  4. Katie,
    I can't believe you hated the PB in oatmeal! Did you add milk after the PB? If not I can imagine that it would be really gummy. I'll check into the mandoline but in a weird way chopping vegetables is very cathartic for me.

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