JAPANESE CHOPPED SALAD
Remember when I told you about the easy wheat and brown rice pilaf recipe? Thanks to my friend, Paula, we’ve discovered a new way of enjoying this food storage basic. The picture looks a little weird but believe me the salad isn’t. First time I served it to my crew the 15 yr old kept saying, “MOM! This is SOOOO good!” A married daughter has phoned three times, asking me to please get the recipe posted so that she can give it a crack.
So, to give credit where credit is due, it all began when dear Paula explained that one of her simple dinners is an Asian salad. She combines shredded green cabbage, shredded carrots, edamame, and chopped grilled chicken breasts for a dinner salad that has become a family favorite. When ready to serve, she mixes everything with a ginger salad dressing and tops it off with crunchy chow mien noodles.
My version has Paula’s shredded green cabbage, carrots, and edamame, but then I added (because I had these on hand) some fresh cilantro, diced cucumbers, purple cabbage, pot stickers instead of grilled chicken, and the wheat and brown rice pilaf instead of chow mien noodles. Basically, anything goes. The key might be the Asian dressing. Paula told me that her family’s fav is the one from Pampered Chef. Our salad dressing recipe came from Judy, a friend I originally met when we lived in New York. Judy is a talented, brilliant, sometimes professional caterer and we think her Asian ginger dressing is MONEY!
Asian Ginger Dressing
Fresh Ingredients
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
Storage Ingredients
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
To be quick about it, I measure all the ingredients straight into my blender, tossing in a large teaspoon looking whole clove of garlic with an abundant chunk of peeled fresh ginger. Buzzed for less than a minute, I transfer the dressing to a serving dish and top with the sliced green onions. Everyone builds their own salad, as they like it, and then we drizzle on the ginger glaze dressing. Oh my.
Who says that you have to sacrifice all fresh ingredients when using your food storage? I beg to differ.
March 21st, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Yum. My hubby is from Hawaii and we eat a lot stuff that’s kinda, sorta like this. My MIL, who is Japanese, and I have a lot of fun making up authentic dishes, lol. Like…furikake (a dry, crushed up seaweed and sesame seed condiment) is so, so good on fresh cucumber. It’s also good on fish. See, since I didn’t grow up Asian, I am ignorant and I put furikake on all sorts of things that are nontraditional, and some of them turn out to be really good! (like popcorn!)
Thanks for sharing the dressing recipe – it is very similar to mine, but I love to try variations.
March 22nd, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Boy does that sound (look) yummy! Wish I had some right now. Thank you for posting the dressing, all good things that you have on hand and much fresher!
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Dearest Melanie and Laura, Let me know if you decide to try this recipe. Love to know your thoughts. We’re having it again this Sunday…and I can hardly wait!
March 25th, 2012 at 2:46 am
I’m going to make that for sure this week!! And I just bought potstickers at Costco yesterday so I’ll use those instead of chicken also. Yum!!
March 27th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Hope you like it Melissa! If you ever want to add the grilled chicken try making a double batch of the salad dressing and use half as a marinade. Super good!
April 16th, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Do you think the Asian dressing could be made with all food storage ingredients, like dry ginger, garlic powder, and something for the green onion part? I know it’s probably much better with the fresh but I’m looking for some good recipes that don’t involve any fresh ingredients. Thanks!
April 16th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
Absolutely Cortney. There may be some difference, of course, in the final product, but I bet the dressing would still be quite good. Please let me know what you discover if you decide to give it a try!