2012-06-02

Ginger Kale Slaw

We have been having beautiful weather this week in Spokane this week!  There are clouds here and there with a bit of wind, but other than that it's been warm and sunny.  What better to do on a sunny Saturday than to go to a block party.  Our neighbors behind our house are hosting the blog party, so it is just a hop over the fence away.

Since starting the 6-week Eat To Live Challenge this week, I have been trying to have a large salad with some beans, veggies, and a healthy dressing every day for lunch.  Two days ago I decided to try to recreate one of my favorite dressings from a local fast food teriaki restaurant called The Noodle Express.  It is a thicker creamy ginger dressing that is very fragrant and has a wonderful satisfying zing.  I've never asked what goes into this dressing, but I'm sure it's not very nutritarian approved.  My re-creation attempt actually wasn't too bad.  My mom even dug into the salad while walking through the kitchen and thought it was just great.  She suggested that I make the salad for the block party tonight and to make it perfect as I do, so I thought, "Time for another recipe blog post!"  Hope you enjoy...

Ingredients:

  • Miso Ginger Dressing: 
    • 1/4 cup white miso (low sodium if you can find it)
    • 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce or tamari
    • 1/4 cup filtered water
    • 1/4 c tahini (almond butter would work too)
    • 2 inches of fresh ginger, peeled (more or less to taste)
    • 2 Tbsp agave (honey works too)
    • 1/2 lemon, juiced (more to taste)
  • Kale Slaw:
    • 1 large bunch kale, stems removed, washed, and very well chopped
    • 1/4 red cabbage, sliced thinly and chopped well
    • 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (~2 cups homemade)
    • 1/2 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thinly
    • 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
    • sesame seeds (optional)
Directions:
  • Dressing:
    1. Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender or food processor.
    2. Blend until creamy and smooth.
    3. Adjust amounts of soy sauce, ginger, and lemon to taste.
    Salad spinner I got my mom for Mother's Day.  We use it all the time!
    My nifty way to chop kale small without as much mess!
  • Slaw:
    1. De-stem and wash kale.
    2. Place in a large bowl and use kitchen scissors to cut the kale into fairly small pieces.
    3. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.
    4. Pour in the entire ginger dressing and stir well.
    5. Serve cold with sesame seeds sprinkled on top for presentation.

Amy's Notes:  Make sure to taste the dressing as you adjusting the lemon, soy sauce, and ginger to your taste.  Remember that a little ginger can go a long way if you are not a big fan of it.  I used a salad spinner to wash and dry my kale.  If you don't have one yet and plan to be eating many salads (as you should be!), I would highly recommend getting one.  They are great!  I used scissors to chop my kale into very small pieces, but you can easily do this with a large knife and cutting board instead.  The dressing made for this recipe can obviously go on any type of salad and not just the slaw I made here.  I know I'm going to want to put it on more salads than just this!
What non-nutritarian foods from restaurants do you miss eating?  Have you ever tried to recreate a Plant-Strong version?

10 comments:

  1. Amy, This sounds really good. I'd love to toss this into one of my daily salads or eat as is. Sounds perfect to bring to a potluck meal. Something you can definitely eat and I would hope, everyone else would enjoy. Appreciate the helpful hint to cut the kale with scissors.

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    1. It did turn out really well at taking it to the block party we went to. Honestly it was probably one of the only healthy things at the pot luck, so I'm glad I made it. Hope you enjoy too. :)

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  2. Hey, Amy.This sounds sooo good! Definitely going on my next menu. Using scissors has always been my preferred method of chopping salad greens. It works really well and you can chop as much or as little as you like to make bigger or smaller greens. Larger pieces with dressing are just harder to eat and much messier. I'm glad you put that tip out there.

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    1. It's my new favorite way to prepare salads. So glad I tried it out the other day. -Amy

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  3. I LOVE the scissors idea! I'm definitely going to have to try that! This recipe looks great, too. Would this be 1 Dr. F. serving or does it serve more people?

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    1. This recipe would be for way more than one person. I found it to be a good side for 8 or more people, but if you would like to have it as a meal, it would easily feed 3-5 people. Hope that helps :)

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  4. Fabulous recipe, look forward to trying it! I too cook my dishes with tons of veggies. Lost 53 pounds that way. Cheers!

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    1. Way to go Rosanna! Veggie's are the key to weight loss!

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  5. Looks great! I can't wait to try this!

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