Whalin's Low-Fat Asian Salad

A variation of Pioneer Woman's Asian Noodle Salad--noodles are optional in this version and I added herbs (mint, basil, arugula). Varied the dressing to make it lower fat. Crowd pleaser--it always disappears very quickly. All the quantities can be changed according to your wishes--eyeball the amounts and ingredients according to your tastes and what you have on hand. You can make this several days ahead and store in the fridge. Keep the dressing separate. If you are not serving it within an hour or two do not mix in the spinach and arugula to keep them from getting too crushed. If I manage to have leftovers I sautÃ�© the salad in the dressing and serve it over brown rice for a wonderful stir fry dinner. The dressing is amazing and will keep for a week in the fridge. I usually make a double or triple batch and keep it in the fridge to use in stir fries. If I am making this for a large crowd I leave the jalepeno's out and serve them on the side for people to add as they want.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 8-10
• Yields: 10 cups of salad

Ingredients

• Salad

• 3  cups purple cabbage, finely sliced
• 1  cup broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 4  carrots, cut into match stick size pieces
• 1 1⁄2 cups bean sprouts
• 2  bell peppers, sliced thin (red or yellow)
• 1  bunch cilantro, diced
• 1  jalapeno, finely diced (to taste!)
• 1  bunch cilantro, diced (use finely diced stems in dressing)
• 1  cup fresh basil leaf, shredded
• 1⁄2 cup fresh mint leaves
• 2  green onions, including green parts diced
• 2  cups  Baby Spinach, washed
• 1  cup arugula, washed and stems cut off
• 1⁄2 cup pine nuts (optional or use crushed almonds)

• Dressing

• 4  tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 5  garlic cloves, minced (or to taste. I usually use 5-10)
• 2  tablespoons  sesame oil
• 1⁄4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1  tablespoon olive oil (optional)
• 2  tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)
• 1  tablespoon  jalapeno, diced (or to taste)
• 1⁄2 cup warm water (to taste)
• 1  lime, juiced
• 1⁄4 cup  diced cilantro (use stems)

Directions

1. Mix salad ingredients together.
2. Mix all dressing ingredients together (including minced cilantro stems but not including cilantro leaves) and shake to combine.
3. Pour dressing over salad before serving.
4. Note: You can dress the salad several hours before serving to allow the flavors to meld but if you are making several days worth of salad as I usually do, do not dress the salad until the day you will serve it.