Alright so today I had to get prepared to get back to the real world…I’ve had the past 5 days off from work – and it’s been pretty awesome, but I guess it’s time to get back to reality….unfortunatley. I need to prep my weekly food for my lunches – so I decided to make an Asian slaw to eat as a salad….it’s easy, fresh, delicious, healthy….and you can add chicken, tofu or peanuts to the dish to make it heartier for lunch. If I just ate this for lunch, without any protein, I’d be starving by 3 and ready to kill someone – because I get crabby….and fast.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for the dish:
First, slice the veggies – thinly. I would suggest using a mandolin if you have one – which I don’t – but if I did, I would have used it. Just to make it easier.
Slice the green onions – and these I keep in relatively larger pieces. I developed a love of green onions over the past few years – and confession, that love originated from Pei Wei. They make a bomb pad thai dish – and they serve it with large pieces of green onions on top – and I love it!
Now chop up your herbs – the combination of cilantro, basil, and mint is key to this dish. They keep the dish fresh and each bite you take you get a slightly different flavor which is amazing.
After you chop all your veggies – put them into a giant bowl. The head of cabbage always makes more than I assume it will – I bought a small head of savoy cabbage to use b/c the little lumps in the cabbage hold the sauce better than traditional green cabbage – and the little head of cabbage took up most of the bowl.
Now it’s time to mix the marinade – in no particular order mix the ingredients together. I should point out that I use low sodium soy sauce in this dressing – traditionally I use regular soy sauce – but I didn’t want this to be overly salty. I also am using a new ingredient I found at the grocery store today – sugar free rice wine vinegar. Seasoned rice wine vinegar traditionally has 4 carbs per 2 T. due to the sugar used – this one has 0 carbs which is pretty convenient for my diet. Also – I used Truvia packets in my dressing – you can use honey, agave nectar, or brown sugar instead if you are against Truvia. And if you are, don’t hate on me!
Now basically toss the entire thing together and add extra black sesame seeds on top of your salad before eating. Grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, tofu, and chopped up peanuts on top of the salad would be amazing as well.
This dish is really healthy – I use minimal oil and no sugar – but trust me – it’s really really good. My husband came upstairs to taste it and he loved it…..It’s a salad I can eat over and over without getting tired of it. I hope you enjoy!
Asian Slaw
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 small head savoy cabbage – sliced
1/2 medium red onion – sliced
1 red bell pepper – sliced
5 green onions – both white and green parts
1 c. cilantro
1/2 c. mint
1/2 c. basil
2 t. pureed garlic and ginger
1/2 c. low sodium soy sauce
1/4 c. sugar-free rice wine vinegar
1 T. sriracha – spicy asian hot sauce
2 packets Truvia – or 2 T. honey
1 1/2 T. sesame oil
juice from 2 limes
2 T. black sesame seeds, plus more to sprinkle on top
Directions:
1. Slice the cabbage, red onion, and red pepper into slivers – all relatively equal in size.
2. Chop the green onions and toss with the other veggies in a large bowl.
3. Chop/julienne the herbs and add to the vegetables.
4. Make the marinade – add all the ingredients and mix well – if you don’t have garlic/ginger paste – then make your own using a microplane or mortar and pestle.
5. Combine the sauce with the slaw – let stand 5 minutes and then serve and eat.
Enjoy!
