Food Blog:
Cook In.
Eat Out.
Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
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Thursday, August 4
Craptacular Containers of Crunch
Wow, have I eaten a shitload of salads these last few weeks! Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that for the life of me I cannot seem to put together a decent salad in under an hour (chopping veg, acquiring protein (cooking if need be), mixing up dressing, etc.) and finally, after long last, I have a lot of free time on my hands during the day.
Following is a brief selection of some of the creations I've assembled, along with recipes to the best of my knowledge. Keep in mind most of the salads I make are tossed together with what I have and what I need to use before it goes bad.
First things first, however. The base for many of my salad dressings is "Viet Sauce", a salty and spicy dipping mixture served with spring rolls in Vietnamese restaurants. I always have a jar of this in the fridge, ready for whatever I want to throw it on - salad, omelet, or soup.
Viet Sauce (Nuoc Cham Gung)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 T fresh ginger, grated
2 red thai chiles, diced finely, seeds and all
1 T sugar
Juice of 2 limes
1/4 c fish sauce
1/4 c water or to taste
Shake it all up, and keep in the fridge. Lasts only as long as it takes you to consume it, which shouldn't be very long at all. Realistically, it lasts forever.
Now, on to the salads!
Choppy Bean & Tuna Salad (serves 2-6, depending on portions)
Salad:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed very well
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 small shredded carrots
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 handful pistacios, toasted
1/4 cup yogurt
1 can tuna, drained and rinsed WELL - this seems to remove some of the fishiness
Marinade:
1 T cider vinegar
1 T other vinegar (walnut, tarragon, whatever)
1 T lemon juice (from half a lemon)
1 small red onion, sliced thin
1/2 t dried parsley
Get the marinade going: mix the vinegars, lemon juice and parsley with the red onion and let it steep for at least 5-10 minutes, preferably while you are chopping all the rest of the veg and toast the nuts, as per the ingredients list. Then combine the yogurt and tuna, then toss it with the rest of the salad ingredients until well combined. Finally, dump the marinade over everything and toss for longer than you think necessary until everything is glistening and smelling yummy.
Mung Bean, Parsley & Egg Salad
1 cup cooked mung beans
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped (or other protein of your choice like chicken or tofu....)
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
2 T viet sauce
Toss all and serve.
Grilled Steak Salad with Feta, Red Onions, and Mango
Pretty much what it sounds like, with a lettuce base of chopped romaine. Dressing is 2 Tablespoons of Viet Sauce mixed with a couple of glugs of buttermilk (or yogurt) to thicken it up and add some creaminess.
Quickly Forgotten Greens Salad with Chicken
Hell, I don't remember everything that went into this one, but it definitely had:
Chicken Breast, cooked & chopped
Romaine lettuce, chopped
Dandelion Leaves, chopped
Hard boiled egg, chopped
Orange Bell Pepper, chopped
Bean Sprouts
Viet Sauce combined with buttermilk to make it all creamy-like
That's all I can spot from the photo, but I may have also added some nuts for more crunch.
Cheers! :-)
Time posted: 18:33 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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