Asian-Inspired Noodle Salad
I’m a pretty big meal-prepper. I was more faithful when I had a full-time job out of necessity, but now that I’m back to being freelance, I still find it really important to have food ready to go in my fridge.
The thing about me, is, when I get hungry, I’m pretty likely to go for a grilled cheese sandwich or peanut butter toast, just something fast and that will fill the gap. This isn’t always the most healthy choice. So by meal prepping, I always have something on hand I can grab, and that thing is healthy.
This week, I made this Asian-inspired Noodle Salad. It’s packed with loads of crunchy vegetables, but the noodles help to round it out and give it more substance. I’m sorry guys, but I love carbs and you can pry them out of my cold, dead hands. Keto is something that will never be used to describe me. But also, there are some really great choices when it comes to noodles out there right now. While often in a salad like this, you’d use ramen, rice noodles or maybe soba noodles (made from buckwheat, so more nutritionally dense than white rice), I recently discovered a line of noodles that are made with vegetables. The ones I used for this salad are made with spinach, but they also have ube ones! You can grab these from the Archepelago store in Gastown. These noodles just help to bump up the overall nutritional value of your salad, adding extra vegetables and protein.
Feel free to add whatever veg makes you happy here. The real glory of this Asian-Inspired Noodle Salad is the dressing which is loaded with lots of typically Asian ingredients, like rice wine vinegar, sesame, soy sauce, ginger and garlic. I also added a little peanut butter to thicken it up, and also, I just really love peanut butter.
This is a great transition salad–spring is here, and I think it spans the seasons quite nicely.
Asian-Inspired Noodle Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 package instant noodles 200 gr
- 1 red pepper cut into matchsticks
- 1/2 small purple cabbage thinly sliced
- 3 small carrots grated
- 1/2 cup kale chopped
- 1/2 can chickpeas rinsed and drained (optional, for extra protein)
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- peanuts chopped, for garnish
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup oil canola or olive
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 1 tbsp grated garlic
- salt and pepper
Instructions
To make the salad:
- Place the noodles in a large, heat-proof bowl and cover them over with boiling water. Stir, then let them sit for 5 minutes. Once the noodles are soft, drain them and rinse with cold water to cool them down.
- Add your noodles to a large bowl, then add the vegetables, reserving some of the cilantro for garnish.
- To make the dressing, place all the ingredients together in a mason jar, put the lid on, and shake it well.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to combine.
- Serve, garnished with extra cilantro and chopped peanuts.
Video
@findbex Crunchy, yummy Asian-inspired Noodle Salad, with cabbage, carrots, cilantro and red peppers. #noodles #noodlesalad #asian #vegan #plantbased #howto #recipetok #recipe #foodblogger
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