Do you ever go to a restaurant, try a salad and think “well why didn’t I think of this?” That was me when I had my first bite of the Siam salad at Leon’s here in Charleston. It may very well be my favorite salad in the city. I know what you’re thinking, a city like Charleston known for its food scene and I’m raving about . . . a salad.
Trust me. It’s this good. Every time I order it, I always want to try my hand at recreating it at home. Over the weekend, I hosted some friends to play mahjong (yes, we are those people) and decided to try my hand at a recreation. I would love for you to try it out and let me know what you think 🙂
Ingredients:
-1 head of Napa cabbage, roughly chopped
-2 carrots sliced
-1 zucchini
-1.5 cups mandarin orange slices (not pictured, my girlfriend brought some over!)
-1 avocado sliced *just* before serving
-0.5 cup onion straws (trust me, they add to this)
-0.5 cup unsalted peanuts
-0.25 cup of basil and mint, roughly chopped (option to add cilantro or have it on the side; guest-dependent)
Salad Dressing:
-1 mason jar
-0.25 cup fish sauce
-0.5 cup lime juice
-red pepper flakes (spoiler: I don’t measure these, but rather just eyeball it depending on who is coming to eat & their affinity for rep pep flakes)
-2.5 teaspoons maple syrup
-3 teaspoons minced garlic
-0.25 teaspoons ginger (the squeeze bottle will do just fine or you can mince your own fresh garlic, time-dependent)
Options to add a protein: normally I will do chicken or shrimp, but just wanted to have it as an easy salad for us to graze as wanted 🙂
This sounds like A LOT, but trust me, you can whip this up in minutes. It all depends on your chopping and cutting skills 😉
1) Start Chopping! Roughly chop your cabbage, carrots and zucchini. I love to chop and then set aside.
2) Chop up all of your herbs, and again, set aside.
3) This is just for aesthetics, but I love to set everything up individually before assembly. It helps to make sure I have everything (aka when I realized I forgot to buy mandarin oranges), plus I can check before assembling that my company eats everything I’m putting in the salad (aka cilantro).
4) Make your dressing. Pour all dressing ingredients into your mason jar, give it a good ole shake, shake, shake!
5) Slice your avocado!
6) Present and eat! That’s it. S U P E R simple. Enjoy!
Please, please let me know if you make this delish salad! xx
