Tasty Asian Inspired Summer Salad

Healthy eating has always been something that is important to me and as a vegetarian I'm no stranger to fruit and vegetables, but recently I've had to raise the bar in the healthy eating department due to being diagnosed with a gallbladder issue which shortly will be requiring surgery. I've always found salads to be quite boring and try to avoid eating them as a meal on their own, but when I came across this recipe, it really tickled my fancy. I'm a big fan of Asian inspired food and the sound of soybeans, peanut butter and sesame oil pretty much sealed the deal. I've constituted some of the ingredients in this recipe for even healthier products - such as Konjac noodles (Calorie free) instead of egg noodles and I've also added sesame seeds for a protein boost. Admittedly I went a little bit too overboard with the water, but the salad still tasted great and was really easy to make.

Serves 1

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: N/A

Ingredients

For the dressing:
1 tbsp peanut butter
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp Sesame oil
½ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
Water

For the salad:
Large handful of frozen soybeans
100g fresh egg or udon noodles
1 stick of celery, sliced
4 radishes, sliced into wedges
1 spring onion, sliced
3 slices of Chinese leaf lettuce, finely shredded

What to do:

In a bowl whisk all the dressing ingredients with a splash of water until smooth.
Pour into the bottom of the jar. Defrost the soya beans in boiling water then drain.
Layer the noodles on top of the dressing, then the celery and radish, then soya beans and top with the crunchy spring onions and Chinese leaf lettuce.

To serve, tip everything into a bowl and give a good stir.

The key to jar salads is the order they are put into the jar. Put the dressing in the bottom and then layer firmer vegetables at the bottom, the protein in the middle and the leafy greens at the top so they don't get wet. 

Recipe credit: www.lovethecrunch.co.uk

Have you tried making any Mason jar salads?