Skip to main content

orange cashew rice noodle salad


 Sometimes, in the dead of Winter, I crave a fresh crunchy hearty Asian inspired cabbage and rice noodle salad for dinner.  A fresh salad 🥗 with rice noodles, cashew nuts, cucumbers 🥒  red bell peppers, cilantro 🌿 grated carrots 🥕 mandarin oranges 🍊 limes, shredded Napa cabbage, and sliced scallions tossed in a spicy chili garlic asian style dressing.  Then- there's times when I just want a chocolate chip cookie 🍪 That's another blog post for another day.  Actually I've been thinking about baking some chocolatey chocolate World Peace cookies, again for another day.
Today I wanted to get my hands on fresh citrus 🍊  from a few potted trees in my garden.  I love my potted dwarf citrus trees, they fit nicely in my smaller backyard area.  I had all my salad ingredients on hand as I originally planned to use chicken in this salad but then I used it last night for chicken curry on jasmine rice, yum that was good.  We took a drive out to Point Reyes over the weekend and my husband bought a bag of cashew nuts at Toby's Feed Barn, so the leftover nuts in the bag went into my salad.  A Sunday drive was a nice break from our normal lockdown routine.  Tomorrow morning we're going for a hike, we haven't had much rain so hopefully it won't be too muddy.  The news is depressing so here is a nice fresh recipe for a small distraction in your day.

Ingredients and Recipe for Orange Cashew Rice Noodle Salad
Serves 4

6 ounces rice noodles
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Juice and zest of a medium size lime
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Red bell pepper, sliced
English cucumber, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and grated
6 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced
2 mandarin oranges, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup minced cilantro, plus extra sprigs or leaves for garnish 
6 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup cashews, roasted, no salt

Cook the rice noodles according to package directions, drain.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a large salad bowl, canola oil, rice wine vinegar, lime zest and juice, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, salt and pepper.
Stir the warm rice noodles into the dressing.
Stir the red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, scallions, orange slices, cilantro and cashews into the noodles with the dressing mixture in the large salad bowl.
Place the shredded Napa cabbage in the bottoms of the individual serving bowls and pile the noodle salad mixture on top, garnish with the cilantro sprigs or leaves.




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

springtime chamomile tea cake with strawberry icing

 Good grief, Easter is in the rear view mirror and we are deep into this new year.  And once again it's tea time at my house.  This chamomile tea cake is a beautiful sweet addition to any tea ritual, especially my favorite, chamomile tea, which I rediscovered in my hotel room in Carmel earlier this fast moving year.  I highly recommend a slice of chamomile tea cake with strawberry 🍓 icing with a cup of chamomile tea to just take a moment and slow this year down.  Baking with tea is both creative and fun.  Earlier this year I made Earl Gray sugar cookies which are made using the same method of infusing the butter with loose tea.  For my tea cake I also rubbed the lemon zest into the sugar -another way to lend a pop of citrus to your baking. The strawberry icing is made using freeze dried strawberries, I pulverize them in my spice mill and then they are pressed through a fine sieve into the confectioner's sugar.  In addition to using lemon zest rub...
Post a Comment
Read more

braised romano beans with heirloom tomatoes and purple leaf sweet basil

  Romano beans braised in heirloom tomato sauce, shallots and garlic make an easy summer side dish -excellent served with grilled fish and potato purée.  I know because that's what we had for dinner last Saturday night.  I happily used purple basil from my own herb pots that are now watered with leftover shower water.  We have many more months of drought ahead of us in California and apparently mask wearing when in public, no not in the car. I appreciate our farmers markets more than ever, thank you farmers for romano beans and heirloom tomatoes and also myself for the fresh purple basil. Such a treat to find fresh romano green beans at the farmers market; they hold up to a fairly long, about 20 minute braise and become tender in the tomato broth from the heirloom tomatoes.  🍅 This is one of those simple good veg recipes. Ingredients and Recipe for Romano Beans with Heirloom Tomatoes and Purple Leaf Sweet Basil Serves 2-4 1 pound fresh romano beans, washed...
Post a Comment
Read more

pear jam with saffron infused honey and cardamom

  Pear Jam with Saffron Infused Honey and Cardamom The summer after high school I worked sorting Bartlett pears at the Scotts Valley Fruit Exchange in Lake County California.  I thought I would never touch or eat another pear again in my life. But, here I am years years later making pear jam in my kitchen with pears, honey and saffron grown in Lake County.  A few weeks ago My husband and I went to visit friends in Kelseyville at their finca, they generously supplied me with the pears from their orchard-Finca Castelero- for my jam.  I will never forget getting up early in the morning and riding my bike across the valley from my cousin's house to work a long hot day sorting pears.  I remember thinking whoever came up with the idea of creating a cooperative to sort, pack and send pears from family farms, including my cousin's family farm on what is now called Hendricks road, to markets all over the country really had a good idea!  I never looked at pears ...
Post a Comment
Read more