Salad night

With only a few ingredients left in my fridge and no energy to get groceries, my options for dinner the other night were definitely a little limited. Luckily I was up for a challenge and decided to throw a few things together and make salad!

A salad can seriously be anything you want it to be. You can use raw or cooked ingredients – or a combination. Often I add beans, cheese and/or nuts to add some protein, but I also didn’t have any of those ingredients. Improvisation is the key in moments like these.

So for my fantastically easy salad night I made a sautéed red cabbage salad – garlic, sage and green onions with a splash of balsamic made this perfecto! And I made a second salad using dried ingredients just sitting in my cupboard – wakame (seaweed) and sesame seed salad. I combined soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, chili, toasted sesame seeds and rehydrated wakame. This salad was amazing too! I will definitely be making these two again.

sautéed red cabbage salad

serves 3-4 people

1 tbsp olive oil

2-3 green onions/spring onions – sliced/chopped

2 cloves garlic - chopped

3 fresh sage leaves – torn into small pieces

¼ red cabbage – shredded

1 tbsp/splash balsamic vinegar

sea salt and pepper

Place a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add olive oil, chopped onions, garlic and sage. Fry for 2-3 minutes and then add cabbage, pinch of sea salt and some freshly cracked pepper. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until cabbage is slightly wilted.  Add splash of balsamic and taste/adjust seasoning. I serve this dish at room temperature/slightly warm.  Cabbage goes well with lots of different items – I served this with baked eggs. Yum!

wakamé salad

this recipe is from Australian Gourmet Traveller – I omitted the sugar.

serves 4 people

1 cup dried wakame*

2 tbsp sesame seeds toasted

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp dried chili

2 tbsp rice vinegar

First soak the wakame to reconstitute – this process takes about 10 minutes.  Drain and keep aside in a bowl.  Toast sesame seeds and let cool. Mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili and cooled sesame seeds and pour mixture over wakame.  Stir through and serve.  Another option is to place into fridge for an hour and serve cold.  This dish works with any asian inspired dishes – grilled snapper, dumplings, hot and sour soup….it’s so easy and so good for you!

*wakame – seasweed – can be found at any store which stocks asian imported foods or even at health food stores.