It might be the most uneaten thing in sushi joints, but I dig the side salad. Cold crisp lettuce with a minimum of other stuff to distract you from a dressing that punches you in the mouth with flavor. It’s the perfect counterpoint to the piping hot miso soup and the awesomeness you know will be delivered soon.
Unfortunately, that salad isn’t substantial enough to be a lunch, let alone a dinner. Enter a protein, in this case shredded chicken. Once you’ve added that then you may as well turn it into a real salad.
For this one, we add a bit of crunch with fried sweet potatoes (easy!), sub the iceberg for cabbage to get the chill, pop in arugula for some pepper bite, and then supplement with some veggies to round it out. But the real star is the dressing. Don’t skimp on it!
Serves two – you can scale this easily as needed.
| Mise en Place | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PRODUCE | PROTEIN | ||
| 1 | sweet potato, spiralized | 1 breast | chicken, cooked and shredded |
| 1/4 | cabbage, shredded | STAPLES | |
| 1-2 handfuls | baby argula | 1/4 cup | canola oil |
| 1-2 handfuls | cherry tomatoes, halved | 1/4 cup | rice vinegar |
| 2-3 | carrots, julienned | 2 tbs | sesame oil |
| 2-3 | radishes, sliced thin | 2 tbs | yellow miso |
| 2 carrots | roughly chopped | kosher salt | |
| 1 inch | ginger, rouchly chopped | pepper | |
| olive oil | |||
| Equipment | |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stick Blender |
| 1 | Mason jar |
| 1 | Large salad bowl |
| 1 | Small mixing bowl |
| 1 | Salad spinner |
| 1 | Skillet, medium |
| 1 | Plate lined with paper towels |
| Directions | |
|---|---|
| Step | Action |
| 1 | Make the dressing. Put canola oil, seasame oil, vinegar, ginger, miso, and carrots into mason jar. |
| 2 | Spin with stick blender till smooth, taste, add salt and pepper as needed, respin till right |
| 3 | Heat olive oil over medium in skillet. You need enough to cover the bottom of the skillet, probably 2-4 tablespoons worth |
| 4 | Meanwhile, lay out spiralized sweet potato on cutting board and cut every 6 inches or so. |
| 5 | Add sweet potato to skillet, sprinkle a big pinch of salt on, and fry till turning brown. Toss often with tongs |
| 6 | Evac sweet potato to plate and let drain |
| 7 | Take tomatoes for a spin in the salad spinner, evac to mixing bowl, toss with a little salt and pepper |
| 8 | In salad bowl combine cabbage, argula, carrots, radishes, and chicken. Toss with dressing. |
| 9 | Plate salad by mounding it in the middle, top with sweet potato shreds, add tomatoes on side. |
| 10 | Enjoy and admire how healthy you are eating! |
This salad has it roots in the Chicken Katsu salad from canadian restaurant chain Joey. My wife went there one day, enjoyed the salad, and later told me she wanted it for dinner. Not wanting to go out, I looked at pictures and the menu description and made something that was good but totally not what they serve. It was completely delicious anyhow and I decided I should make it again. In thinking about it, I decided making chicken katsu for a salad was too much effort, so I switched it up to make the above. It’s a win.
Months later, I actually had the salad from Joey and I got it totally wrong. That’s ok, both salads are delicious.
Categories: Salad
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