Hello lovelies! Coming at you mid-weekend with salad I don’t want you to live without.
In the dog days of August, warm lunches on the patio, hot summer skin and thirsty bodies all seem to lend itself to a hydrating, colour-burst of a salad.
You’d be hard pressed to find a plant-based blogger that doesn’t have a rendition of zucchini noodles, draped in nutty, a pad-Thai inspired sauce.
– and this bewitching number is mine!
It’s less of a recipe and more of a guideline, I will warn you. The vegetables are completely up to what you have hand and what you dream up. Zucchini, carrots and peppers are classic for this – but I definitely yearned for the earthy crunch of raw beets.
The dreamy ginger almond sauce balances a the line of salty, tangy and gingery. It has a double wham of creamy thanks to the rich coconut milk and almond butter, which I find gives the salad a more satiating effect.
You won’t want to go light on the toppings – this salad welcomes the diversity that comes with fresh mint, cilantro, and even basil.
Textured add-in’s like roasted cashews, green onions, peanuts or even goji berries hide in the nooks and crannies of the veggie ‘noodles’, making every bite dynamic.
Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying your Sunday and make time to make something you enjoy most.
If you try it, let me know your feed back in the comments or instagram!
-Meredith
Ingredients
- 2 zucchini, spiralized thinly sliced or shaved with a y-peeler
- 1 carrot, spiralized, thinly sliced or shaved with a y-peeler
- 1 bell pepper, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cups purple cabbage, thinly shredded
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup roasted cashews or peanuts
- Fresh cilantro, mint, or basil, roughly chopped or torn
- 1/2 cup roasted almond butter
- 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk
- 2.5 tbsp tamari
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce (or sriracha)/ to taste
- 1-2 tbsp water, to thin (or more as desired)
Method
- Soak the garlic: to minimize the punch of the raw garlic, I often soak the minced garlic with a squeeze of lime/lemon juice while I prepare the rest of the salad. After 10-15 minutes, add the garlic, lime juice and all into the dressing. Feel free to omit if you like the spicy kick!
- Add all of the sauce ingredients to a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Taste and add more lime juice for acidity, tamari for salt, or garlic chili sauce for kick. You want the sauce to be very bold tasting at this point.
- In a large serving bowl (or 3-4 individual plates) compose the vegetables in their own quadrants. Drizzle a generous spoonful of the ginger almond sauce overtop and sprinkle with the fresh herbs, green onions, and cashews. Toss well to coat everything with the sauce and devour!
Notes
The sauce keeps up to 3 days in the fridge before the coconut milk goes a bit sour. Flavours meld well together if you make it ahead. Just be sure to prep your veggies on the day of consumption to keep them crispy and fresh.
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