No matter how much you may deny it, I think it’s safe to say that the majority of us eat with our eyes. I like to add as much colour to my meals as possible and this normally comes in the form of vegetables. A vibrant mix of colours not only looks stunning on your plate, but you are also getting a powerhouse of nutrition in your meals too.
Salads and stir fries, curries, soups and casseroles are perhaps the simplest ways to pack out your meals with vegetables. I adore an oriental mix of vegetables that come from a stir fry and they are so quick to make. One of my favourite meals is my Fresh & Zingy Pad Thai recipe, which is very easy to whip up. I decided to reinvent one of my favourite recipes and turn it into a raw salad using spiralized courgettes and carrots as the noodles and a delicious dressing that has a spicy kick.
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 carrot
- 1 courgette
- 2 spring onions
- 1 red pepper
- 2 cups of red cabbage
- 1/2 cup edamame beans
- 1/3 cup of peanuts
- coriander to garnish
- 1/2 red chilli
- 1 clove of garlic
- thumb size piece of ginger
- 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey
- 3 tbsp of soy sauce or tamari
- juice of half a lime
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Roast or grill the chicken breast until cooked and leave aside to cool before dicing.
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Spiralise the courgette or carrots to create noodles (you can use a speed peeler to make ribbons instead).
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Chop the red pepper, spring onions, red cabbage and mix together in a bowl with the chicken, edamame beans and vegetable noodles.
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De-seed (optional) and finely dice the chilli, grate the ginger and garlic and add to a bowl.
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Pour in the soy sauce, maple syrup and lime juice and stir well.
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Pour the dressing over the salad and mix through. Garnish with fresh coriander and peanuts.
There’s so much going on in this salad with different colours, textures and tastes! You can tailor the dressing how you prefer in terms of the chilli heat by leaving the seeds in, out or forgetting the chilli altogether. I really like the hint of chilli kick from the dressing, which I think is well-balanced with the sweet and sour flavours.
Making the salad suitable for vegetarians and vegans is really easy too, there’s no egg in this recipe like traditional Pad Thai recipes and you can simply take out the chicken which could be replaced with grilled marinated tofu or seitan. I hope you enjoy!
Oh my God!!! You literally take awesome pictures! They are so DELICIOUS. I will add that to my list. Actually, is this recipe on AllRecipes.com? I have a subscription there so I’d like to put it on my menu planner. hihi
Aww thank you! No I don’t have a subscription unfortunately.
This looks delicious and would be perfect for lunches at work 🙂
Oh definitely!! You can easily store a batch in the fridge.
This looks so so delicious! I ‘m always on the look out for fresh, healthy meals that look great as it’s the best way to convince my teenager to eat them 🙂
There’s a nice mix of veg in there to help get the kids to eat more and the dressing is yummy! 🙂
This looks stunning – You simply cannot beat bright natural colours to make a dish look appealing x
Thanks Helen, you can’t go wrong with all that colour!
This looks delicious and very healthy – perfect for a lunchtime treat
Thanks Jo, it’s super healthy!
Looks so vibrant and delicious! Pad Thai is one of my favourite meals 😀
Same here Nadia, so yummy!
This is such a beautiful looking salad – I am loving all the colours. What an amazing way to use spiralised veggies too.
Spiralising them is lovely way to add more texture and a bit of fun too!
This looks like one I would enjoy, albeit without the beans. Never had been able to stomach them.
You can easily take them out and add something else which is the beauty of salads.
This looks really nice, I like the fact that the ingredients mean it can be adapted for a vegetarian as my daughter could eat it too then. Your pictures are pretty awesome
Love the side salad and the noodles look lovely. I would replace it with quorn as I am a veggie.
I love vibrant and fresh looking bowls and yours looks so wholesome too, I try and make a soupy noodle bowl or a salad bowl like this at least once a week too.
Pad thai is one of my obsessions. I love this salad variation 🙂 I’ll probably make it with Tofu ! This dish is so pretty 🙂
Delicious,
made it last night, the peanuts give it a nice boost
Looks so vibrant and healthy! Mmmm!