So you may want to sit down for this, but I made a healthy(ish) salad for dinner the other day! I was up in Michigan for about ten days which is a foodie’s paradise but it lacks one thing, good Asian inspired food. Therefore when I came home I was craving anything Asian, but especially Thai Food. I had purchased some pea pods at the grocery store that I was planning to use for a Chicken and Pea Pod dish that Mr. Tipsy loves, but I suddenly had such a craving for a light and summery salad! Go figure. I had just received my weekly order from Imperfect Produce so I had plenty of supplies on hand to create this masterpiece. Here is what I used:
Ingredients
For The Salad
- 4 Cups of Pea Pods, Washed, Trimmed and Cut into quarters on the diagonal.
- 2 Red Pepper, Diced
- 6 Green Onions, sliced on the diagonal, including the white parts.
- 1 Seedless Cucumber, diced small.
- 1 Large Carrot, diced small.
- 1 C Honey Roasted Peanuts
For The Dressing
- 4 T Toasted Sesame Oil
- 1/2 C Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
- 1/4 C Soy Sauce
- 2 T Honey
- 2 T Peanut Butter
- 1 T Gochujang Sauce or any kind of hot chili paste.
Once you have all your ingredients prepped the rest is easy. It is also good to remember that you can add any of yor favorite veggies to this salad. The key to making this salad is having the veggies all diced nicely so you get that perfect crunchy bite each time.
Steps
- Toss all the veggies into a bowl and give them a couple of good tosses.
- Next, combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until the mixture is smooth and creamy. It took me some time to incorporate the peanut butter and gochujang sauce.
- Finally, pour the dressing over the veggies and gove a few good tosses to make sure all the veggies are coated. The final step it to toss the peanuts on the top of the salad. You’re done!
This salad was so crunchy and delicious. It was a great meatless option where you didn’t even miss the meat. If you are doing keto or paleo, you can easily sub in options for the dressing to make it friendly to your dietary needs. I stored this salad in jars in the fridge for almost 3 days and it was still as crunchy and delicious as the first day that I made it!
I hope you make it and enjoy it as much as we did. It makes a great lunch, snack, party dish or a side for your favorite protein. It is definitely going into my regular rotation.
For another great meatless salad recipe check out my recipe for Meatless Cobb Salad
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