You CAN make friends with salad
three plant-based salads to liven up your life
Everyone has their own opinion on salad. It’s a word that seems to have a different meaning for each of us; and with that a certain emotional paraphernalia.
I know people that despise salad. They loathe its existence, an afterthought slapped to the side of a meal, if it even makes it to the table. I remember in my Uni days, while shopping at a supermarket, overhearing a young male breather say to their flatmates “salad is for pussies”. How’s that for some toxic masculinity. I’ve got no time for salad haters.
Then there’s a strong cohort, perhaps from a certain generation, who tend to see salad through beige barbecue chopped-lettuce-and-tomato lenses. We’re all familiar with that lifeless bowl of lettuce leaves that’s been invited to far too many parties for my liking; the friend that’s never the life of the party but seems to get invited every time. For some people, that’s all they’ve ever known salad to be.
Another group of western society view salad as a beacon of hope, a food that paves the endless path way to an El Dorado of the perfect body that chick on instagram has. And more often than not, salad quickly becomes the enemy for these people.
But on the other side of the wheel, many of us sit well and truly in team salad (my guess is most of you reading this find yourself in the salad-happy corner). The past 20-30 years has seen a soaring movement of salad trailblazers, who have rewrote the textbook on what a salad can and ought to be. And they’ve brought many of us with them along the way. A salad doesn’t need to be a cameo appearance, it CAN be the star of the show - I highly recommend signing up to this Salad-Loving substack, it’s an absolute gem!
Whether fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses, meats, you name it, everything belongs in the salad whānau. Salads are a food language that transcends global cultures - within every cuisine there are signature salads or saladesque dishes to broaden your taste. Plus, salads are the perfect way to get all the vitamins, minerals and feel-good nutrients your body and mind needs to be at its best.
Just this past week, I gave a talk at work to a group of elders (ie elderly people - elders just feels like a much more regal term) from the local community about nutrition and mental health. At the end of the session we got talking about how as we age, it’s important to try and maintain that positive relationship with food, as it can start to wane as our energy to cook reduces, we become more isolated, and our appetites lessen. We went around the room and everyone shared what some of the foods were that brought them the most joy. Unsurprisingly, for most people it was foods that triggered their involuntary memory, nostalgic comfort foods from their younger lives (something I’ve previously written an article about for RNZ). But for one elder, their most joyful food was when they head to the kitchen and make themselves a big bowl of salad, “with all the yummy vegetables and things I have”. Then they sit down in their chair, eat the big bowl of salad, and it makes them feel “amazing”. I kid you not, that’s what they said.
So this week’s newsletter has been inspired by that elderly lady who gets a kick out of eating her salad. In-keeping with my goals of Eating Who I Want to Be, salads encourage us to Be Authentic in our cooking, by using fresh, real ingredients (rather than ultra processed goods), and I encourage you when making salads to try and source produce that’s locally grown. It’s also a great canvas to try and Be Fearless/Brave in the kitchen, by trying new combos and flavours, without necessarily having to worry about the dimension of heat as part of the creative process - you can just focus on trying new things with the raw ingredients. Making salad is also a great way to Keep Things Simple which usually makes for a more positive cooking and eating experience :)
I’ve got three salad recipes to share with you this week - two are for free subscribers, and there’s a special bonus salad for paid subscribers too. Three very different salads that all deliver in the parameters that I believe make a great salad:
Big Flavour - from using fresh, seasonal vegetables to getting that extra lift from a punchy dressing/sauce, fresh herbs, or a bit of spice. You also want to think about dimensions of flavour that each component can bring - ie look to add a little bitterness with things like fennel or radicchio, some umami from tomatoes or soy sauce or meats etc., freshness in the form of crisp cucumber, greens or herbs, a shock of life from acidity with citrus or vinegar is always welcome too.
Lots of Texture - my favourite salads often comprise a multitude of textures, whether it’s juicy, creamy, crunchy, crispy or green
Make it Look Pretty - salad should and can be beautiful
I hope these salads serve as inspiration for the week of eating ahead!
Cooking from Good Vibes: This past fortnight I’ve also been taking a leaf out of Good Vibes, where there’s plenty of salad inspiration, particularly in the Connect chapter. With the brief NZ watermelon season in its final weeks, it’s the perfect time to make my Zhug prawn salad with watermelon & feta. Similarly, if you can still find some nectarines locally, the Grilled sweetcorn & nectarine salad with miso dressing is a must-try!
Much love,
Alby xx
YOUR NEXT FAVOURITE SALAD.
If there is one salad you should definitely try from these three offerings today, this is the one. The inspiration for this came from a recent trip to our favourite local Dunedin joint Pizza Bar who do this remarkably moreish iceberg salad with a dill-spiked ranch dressing and chopped up pickles - it goes an absolute treat to create a cooling balance when your mouth is getting buzzed out from their ‘Spicy Pie’. For this salad I used homegrown cos lettuce (thanks Alex), and our household has since decided that we think cos may just be the king of all lettuces. It’s layered with moreish texture and flavour from thinly sliced zucchini ribbons, sliced fennel, sweetness from nectarine and fresh mint. Crunchy toasted buckwheat and sunflower seeds join the party (but you could use any toasted nuts or seeds you have on hand), and it’s all brought together by a delicious plant-based ranch-style dill & yoghurt dressing. Plus there’s some chopped up pickles/gherkins for that extra umami finish. It’s an absolute keeper.
Hands-on Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
serves 8-10 as a side
Cost Estimate: $18 (about $2 per serve)
Ingredients
Salad
1 large or 2 medium cos lettuce
1 small or ½ large fennel bulb, end trimmed and sliced thinly with a mandoline
1 medium zucchini, peeled lengthways into long thin ribbons
2 large handfuls mint leaves, plus extra to serve
2 ripe-yet-firm nectarines, stones removed and chopped*
40g buckwheat groats
40g sunflower seeds
2 tbsp finely chopped pickles/gherkins, to serve (optional)
Dill & yoghurt dressing
4 tbsp Greek-style coconut yoghurt (or use regular Greek yoghurt)
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
½ tsp cracked black pepper
⅓ tsp sea salt, or to taste
Method
To begin the salad, trim the end of the cos lettuce and separate into individual leaves. Wash the leaves and cut each leaf in half. Place the cos, sliced fennel, zucchini ribbons, mint leaves and chopped nectarine in a large bowl. In a small frying pan over medium-high heat, toast the buckwheat and sunflower seeds for a couple of minutes until golden and smelling toasty. Transfer to a small bowl.
For the dressing, place the yoghurt, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, dill, mustard, maple syrup, black pepper and salt in a jar. Cover with a lid and shake vigorously until well combined. Adjust seasoning to taste as desired.
To serve, add half the toasted buckwheat/seeds to the bowl with the lettuce etc. Toss everything together to distribute the components evenly amongst the lettuce leaves. Pour over most of the dressing (reserve a little for drizzling over at the end) and toss again to evenly coat the salad. Tip the salad into a large rimmed serving platter. Drizzle with any remaining dressing, then scatter over the remaining buckwheat/seeds, along with the chopped pickles and some extra mint leaves.
Alby’s Advice:
*If nectarines are unavailable, use other stone fruit (e.g. peaches). If out of season, thinly sliced pear or apple will also substitute deliciously.
Feel free to use whatever lettuce you have on hand - although I do think cos is the best.
Spiced pumpkin, cauli & chickpea salad with peanut sauce and quick curry leaf oil
This salad plays heavily off Indian-inspired spices, that I think go remarkably well when combined with a little sweetness and a little nuttiness, which in this case comes form the roasted pumpkin and peanut butter (which is the dominant flavour of the sauce). What makes this salad particularly satisfying is that it utilises the aquafaba liquid from the chickpeas, which forms the creaminess in the sauce when blitzed with the peanut butter. Finished with a crunchy curry leaf oil spiked with chilli flakes, it’s ideal for when you feel like a heart-warming and filling salad.
Hands-on Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
serves 3-4 as a main, 6 as a side
Cost Estimate: $16.80 (about $5 per serve)
Ingredients
Salad
6 tbsp olive oil or melted coconut oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp ground turmeric
¼ tsp ground hot chilli (or ½ - 1 tsp ground mild chilli)
4 cloves garlic, finely grated
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp cracked black pepper
1 medium romanesco head, or regular cauliflower, chopped into medium florets
400g pumpkin flesh, chopped into 2-3cm chunks
400g can chickpeas, drained, aquafaba (liquid) reserved for sauce
Peanut sauce
100ml reserved aquafaba
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely grated
about 4-5 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 handful mint leaves
sea salt & cracked black pepper, to taste
Quick curry leaf oil
4 tbsp olive oil
1 handful fresh curry leaves (about 20)
½ tsp chilli flakes
Method
Preheat the oven to 190°C fan-forced (or 210°C conventional). Line one large or two small oven trays with baking paper.
For the salad, in a large bowl, whisk together the oil, cumin seeds, ground coriander, garam masala, turmeric, ground chilli, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the chopped romanesco, pumpkin and chickpeas, tossing through the oil to coat. Tip out onto the lined oven tray and spread out in a single layer. Roast for 25 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes.
To make the sauce, place the aquafaba, lemon juice, ginger and garlic in a tall, narrow container. Using a stick blender, blitz for 20 seconds until the aquafaba whitens and is becoming frothy. Add the peanut butter, 1 tbsp at a time, blitzing and moving the stick blender up and down to emulsify with each tablespoon added. Continue adding the peanut butter until a creamy thickened-yet-pourable sauce is reached. Add the mint leaves and blitz until smooth. Season to taste with salt and cracked black pepper, and extra lemon juice if desired.
For the curry leaf oil, heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the curry leaves and chilli flakes. Stir through the oil and fry for about a minute, until the curry leaves are crispy. Pour the oil, including all the curry leaves and chilli, into a small bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to allow the chilli to infuse further into the oil.
To serve, spoon the peanut sauce onto the base of a large serving platter, spreading out to cover the base. Pile the roasted salad on top of the sauce, then spoon over the curry leaf oil, including the crunchy leaves and chilli flakes. Serve warm.
Alby’s Advice:
Gradually adding the peanut butter 1 tbsp at a time is important, so the aquafaba is gradually emulsified. The peanut sauce will thicken further after making it.
Use any brassicas you like in place of the cauliflower (pictured is a romanesco).
Green bean noodle salad with blistered tomatoes & tamarind dressing
Everyone needs a good noodle salad in their repertoire, and I love the freshness and cleanness of the flavours in this one. Often noodle salads rely heavily on soy sauce, and the flavour of this can end up dominating. Instead, the dressing here leans heavily on tamarind paste (one of my favourite condiments) which links hands with juicy umami tomatoes, which are cooked just until blistered and ready to burst. You could easily add some poached chicken, fried tofu or tempeh for extra protein to serve this as a main.
Hands-on Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
serves 6-8 as a side
Cost Estimate: $17.20 (about $2.70 per serve)
Ingredients
Noodle salad
250g dried noodles (e.g. pad Thai style rice noodles, egg noodles, soba noodles)
300g green beans, ends trimmed
3 tbsp sesame seeds
4 spring onions, ends trimmed and sliced diagonally
1 large handful Vietnamese mint leaves, plus extra to serve*
1 large handful coriander leaves, plus extra to serve
Blistered tomatoes
2 tbsp canola or olive oil
250g cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
⅓ tsp sea salt
Tamarind dressing
1 ½ tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
½ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp ground chilli
Method
First cook the noodles and beans for the salad. Place a large saucepan of water over high heat and bring to the boil. Once at a rolling boil, add the noodles and cook as per packet instructions (for 10mm rice noodles, this is about 7 minutes). When the noodles are 2 minutes from being ready, add the green beans and cook for a further 2 minutes until the beans are tender-crisp and the noodles are cooked through. Drain, rinse with cold water to cool, drain again and transfer to a large bowl.
Place the sesame seeds in a large frying pan over medium-heat. Toast the seeds for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until fragrant and starting to brown. Transfer the sesame seeds to a small bowl.
For the blistered tomatoes, return the large frying pan over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Once hot, add the cherry tomatoes in a single layer and cook for 2 minutes, undisturbed. Add the garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper and cook for a further two minutes, tossing through the tomatoes. Remove from the heat and tip into the bowl with the cooked noodles and beans, along with any juices from the pan, reserving 6 blistered tomatoes for the dressing.
To make the dressing, place 6 of the blistered cherry tomatoes and the remaining ingredients in a bowl or tall container. Add 4 tbsp cold water and blitz with a stick blender (or use a blender) until relatively smooth.
To assemble the salad, add three quarters of the spring onion, Vietnamese mint and coriander leaves to the noodle bowl, along with the dressing and half the toasted sesame seeds. Toss through to evenly coat. Transfer to a large serving bowl/platter, sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds, spring onion, and finish with a scattering of extra fresh herbs.
Alby’s Advice:
*You can use Thai basil or regular mint leaves in place of Vietnamese mint, if desired
Use whatever dried noodles you have on hand at home, just remember to adjust the cooking times based on the thickness of the noodles, and remember to add the green beans to the water just 2 minutes before the noodles are cooked.