salad

Rainbow Chopped Salad + Peanuts

11 Mar

Return to This Week’s Menu

Rainbow Chopped Salad + Peanuts

Serves 4  | Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes

 Remember to have a rolling diversity of salads in your repertoire to lean on. This is a keeper.

Ingredients

  •  8 ounces firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • fine grain sea salt
  • 1 medium head of radicchio or romaine trimmed and torn
  • 3 cups of brown rice, room temperature or slightly warmed
  • 1/2 cup peanuts, toasted and chopped
  • 2 oranges (or blood oranges), peeled and segmented
  • 1/2 cup crispy, fried shallots*
  • 1-2 big handfuls of chopped herbs (basil, cilantro, or combination)
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced

Cashew milk:

  • 1 cup cashews
  • 2.5 cups water

 

Creamy red curry dressing:

  • 3/4 cups cashew milk (see below)
  • 1 tablespoon red curry paste, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon fish sauce
  • juice of one lime
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup

Chef Tips

If you can’t have peanuts use cashews.

*Look for crispy shallots in the asian section of the grocery store. If you can’t find don’t worry. But crispy shallots are amazing. You can certainly make them at home; but you have better things to do.

Preparation

Step 1

Toss the tofu in a bit of olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt, and sauté the tofu, or grill. Remove and set aside.

Step 2

In the meantime, prepare the other ingredients, arranging in “neighborhoods” on a large platter (see photos), include the tofu on the platter.

Step 3 (for the cashew milk)

Place blend in high-speed blender until silky and creamy.

Step 4 (for the red curry dressing)

Make the dressing by combining the cashew milk (or coconut milk), curry paste, lime juice, and maple syrup in a jar. Add a pinch of salt, shake well, and adjust to taste.

To serve

I like to let people make their own salad from the platter, and dress/toss on their own plate. Alternately you can dress and toss it on the main platter.