Cold zucchini noodle salad with a sesame vinaigrette

You guys I’m so excited to give you guys this recipe.  It is truly the perfect summer dish, takes no time to put together and is gorgeous to boot – you are literally eating the rainbow!

It is a great dish for a BBQ, a picnic in the park, to bring to a potluck and to bring camping.  Our family loves camping and when we go, we always hav a few trusty salads and snacks that are made ahead, so we don’t have to spend a ton of time cooking every single meal out in the woods.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE cooking over an open fire and we do for dinner pretty much every night; but when we’re camping, we seem to eat a lot – so it’s nice to have things that we can just pull out and munch on right then and there.

So here you are:

YIELD – 4 servings as a side and 2 servings as a main

INGREDIENTS

Salad

• 3 cups spiralized zucchini noodles (1 average sized zucchini)
• 1/2 cup grated carrot (1 average sized carrot)
• 1 cup roughly chopped red cabbage
• 1/4 cup diced or sliced red pepper
• 1/4 cup sliced scallions (or chives)
• 1/2 cup diced ripe tomato ( 1 small tomato)
• 1 cup mango, large dice
• 1 tbsp of loosely chopped cilantro
• 1 tbsp of loosely chopped basil (or Thai basil)

Dressing

• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp of tamari (regular soy sauce will do, I you don’t need it to be gluten-free)
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 – 2 tsp brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all the dressing ingredients together into a container with an airtight fitted lid and shake until well mixed together.  I start with one tsp of brown sugar first.  I don’t make things that sweet here, but if you like your dressing a little sweeter, you can definitely add the second tsp. Set aside.
2. Once you have cut, chopped and spiralized your veggies, it’s just a matter of throwing them all together. In a large mixing bowl, add your fruit and veggies (zucchini, carrots, cabbage, red pepper, scallions, tomato and mango). Then dump your dressing in and toss until coated.  Next throw in your herbs and give it another good toss.
3. Plate your salad in a large serving dish or individual dishes and enjoy!

If you want to make this salad ahead of time (it’s fine to make the day before), just chop everything up and throw it together in an airtight container and keep refrigerated.  You can make the dressing ahead of time too (in fact it’s good in the fridge for at least a week), just keep it separate until you’re ready to eat the salad, then dress it right before.

If you’re not a fan of cilantro – you can completely omit it from the salad altogether or you can sub in some fresh mint.  And if you can find Thai basil as opposed to regular sweet basil, definitely use that – it adds a beautiful flavour to this salad.

Don’t be afraid to add in some of your favorite garnishes too – chopped peanuts, chopped cashews, or even toasted coconut would be delicious on top of this salad.

And, if you’re looking for a little protein, shrimp are a great addition; or, if you want to keep it vegan, make a double batch of dressing and marinate some cubed tofu in the dressing and bake it or fry it off to add to the salad.

Whichever way you decide to have it, I’m confident you will LOVE this salad as much as we do.  Plus, it only takes 10-15 minutes to chop everything up and throw together.  What more could you ask for?

Till the next recipe,

Kristen xo