Recipe: Hot-Cold Asian Salad

Don’t forget about the hot sauce discount and the free yoga mat giveaway. Now…

One of my favorite meals is what I call a “hot-cold salad“. It consists of a raw lettuce base and it’s topped with some stir-fry variation. This is the one I made a few nights ago.

Hot-Cold Asian Salad

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 1/2 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• handful of alfalfa sprouts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• 3 cups sprouts (I think they are soy bean sprouts; I get them in the Asian market)
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped red pepper
• 1 cup frozen shrimp
• 2 tablespoons orange juice (optional)
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce or ponzu sauce
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter OR PB2
• dressing – hot sauce and hoisin (wish I had Korean red sauce), chipotle ranch dressing
• base – 1 head of romaine for me; white rice for Bobby

Method

1. Chop the cucs, tomatoes, and alfalfa sprouts. Set aside.
2. Heat the peanut oil (other oil is okay, but peanut has a wonderful flavor) over high heat in a wok. Cook the chopped onions for about a minute. Add the soybean sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms, red peppers, and cooked shrimp (I use frozen). Saute for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the OJ (optional), soy sauce, and peanut butter. Cook until the OJ evaporates.
4. Remove from heat and toss in the cucs, tomatoes, and alfalfa sprouts.
5. Top with any dressing you want (hoisin, Korean red sauce, Chipotle ranch, etc…).
6. Serve over rice (Bobby) or lettuce (Maggie).

I loved it. So yummy! I ate more of it than Bobby did, and my mom was actually up in the city taking care of us (last week when we were sick) and she tried it too (and liked it a lot).

This hot-cold salad is very good for you – peanut oil is a healthy fat, shrimp are lean protein, tons of veggies provide fiber, and it’s colorful. A trick my old ballet teacher taught me is that in order to eat a balanced diet, eat a variety of colors.

Do you ever make hot-cold salads?

P.S. I’ll give you that update I owe you tomorrow… 🙂