Looking for colorful, crunchy, interesting, light, filling, with some proteins, easy to pair with some light white wine? look no further! Here is your new summer favorite !
It’s summer. In this heat, who really wants to HEAT UP the house or the grill?
I’m in the mood for a salad. Looking for colorful, crunchy, interesting, light, filling, with some proteins, easy to pair with some light white wine? look no further! Here is my summer favorite – and my whole family, including my kids who are 8 to 2 years old. It’s a salad-meal.
It can be made with shrimps (my preference) or chicken. And what makes it a steamed dish is the fact that you prepare the shrimps in the steam cooker. Defreeze, steam 5-7 minutes according to size, and transfer into the dish. This is that easy ! ( nb: When i count cooking time, I assume your steam cooker is already hot and steaming, which is easy: turn on the fire under a steam cooker filled with 1.5 or 2 inches of water,just before or half way through cutting vegetables.)
I like to add rice noodles, and it took me quite a while to find the noodles I like. These are Maifun rice noodles. I tried with whole rice noodles and it’s alright, but I prefer my white Maifun. You can easily find them at your local asian supermarket.
Note: you could potentially cookthe noodles in a bowl of water in the steam cooker, but I don’t because 1) it’s not nutritionaly improving the noodles, nor detoxing them since they need to be in water. But it’s feasible because contrary to wheat pasta, the water does not need to be boiling, and the precise timing will not affect the texture much. As a principe, I cook all grains in my steamcooker, especially whole grain, to keep the nutrients. I do not do that for pasta.
As for the vegetables, it HAS to have two different cabbages to make it interesting: Green and napa, or green and red, or napa and red cabbage. A hint or red cabbage gives the salad color and flair! Add julienned carrot for the crunch, cucumbers for a different texture, one pepper, even grate a raw beet to turn it – and the noodles! – pink! That’s the fun touch to make the kids smile wider
Special things you’ll need:
– Organic toasted sesame oil: Granted, toasting seeds isn’t awesome at keeping their nutritional value. But the real reason we love sesame oil is for is toasted taste. So I tried to find the best of both worlds: organic cold pressed sesame oil . Cold pressed because it doesn’t use chemical means to press the oil out, and it destroys the least amount of nutrional benefits. Organic, so you don’t get the toxic sprays on top. The normal sesame oils you find in store are usually from toasted sesame. If the oil is light colored, it may be cold pressed but it won’t taste as strongly. Now these oils are a more expensive but you can find it by the gallon, which is the best for the price. Depending on consumption level (we use a gallon within two years, which is a good time since oils degrade after two years), buy the right size! Coops like Azure Standard ( I am not an affiliate…yet!) do carry a good oil, and so do your favorite online shops. I live the Kevala ( I am not affiliate either) brand.
– Raw organic sesame seeds: If you use toasted oil, toasting your sesame seeds won’t add much taste to the salad. I like it for the crunch, and the look, and the calcium. Yes! Sesame is very high in bioavailable calcium. And did you know that calcium from vegetable sources (in food) was the most bioavailable to your body? The best way to benefit nutrients from seeds you would have a hard time destroying with your bare teeth would be the blend sesame just before meals and sprinkle it on the salad. Sometimes I do, not on this one. And as for many dried foods I use quite a bit of, I buy sesame in bulk, every 1-2 years, at my coop.
– A mandoline slicer. If you don’t own one, a good knife will do. The slicer cuts thiner, and faster (except for the washing afterwards). You can find one in any good Asian store, or online.
– NOW the kicker, and what I advocate for the most as a health and cooking efficiency advocate: THE STEAM COOKER! I use only one: the Vitalizer. It is manufactured by a French company ( I admit my French pride kicks in here) . It is a tool manufactured to keep the steam gentle enough to penetrate foods and cook them without giving them a temperature shock. It cooks at no more than 202°F (under the boiling point) thereby destroying a minimal amount of nutrients, while giving them a sauna session ( = detox!). The top is not tight as in pressure cooking, and let the extra steam come out without pressure. The top is round, enabling the steam to gently circulate around and within and out the food. Meanwhile foods sweat out toxins that fall below the strainer, in the pot. Needless to say, we do not use the bottom water for sauce or soup…Study the tool, look it up at https://www.vitaliseurdemarion.fr/officiel/vitaliseur-de-marion/en there is truly nothing as good out there. I’ve been using it for decades. It is very sturdy, made of stainless steel 10/18. My 35 yo first pot ( that my mom handed down to me) just broke, but I am still using it despite the broken handle on top. I’m sentimental like that, Haha! If you ever consider buying one, contact me here to get a 10% discount! Know that you also won’t have to pay the European sales tax, which is usually included in the advertised price online.
In this recipe, I use the Vitalizer to cook my shrimps!
Now off to work, and Bon appétit!
RECIPE
rainbow shrimps& Noodles sesame salad
The shrimp & noodles summer salad is truly an enticing rainbow of deliciousness!!
By Bernadette Joyeux | July 27th, 2023
- PREP TIME: 20 min.
- COOKING TIME : 10 min.
- TOTAL: 30 min
- Calories: I don’t count calories. All you need to know is: it’s full of fibers, protein, vitamins, so nutrition dense, and delicious!
- Servings: 4 adults or 2 adults and 4 little kids.
INGREDIENTS:
For the salad:
- 2 cups green cabbage, thin sliced ( with a mandoline slicer)
- 2 cups red cabbage, thin sliced ( or a variation with the same amount of napa cabbage)
- one carrot, julienned
- 1 1/2 english cucumber, cut into little pieces
- one pepper, cut in little pieces
- optional: 1/4 of a beet, grated or julienned
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds ( make it fun with black and yellow seeds!)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, thin sliced
- Maifun rice noodles, two noodle blocks
- One pound of medium or large shrimps. Alternatively, you can use thinly sliced chicken breast, that you will cook in the steam cooker for 4-5 minutes.
- optional: handful raw cashews,for garnish
For the dressing:
- 1/3 cup organic cold pressed toasted sesame oil
- 1/3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (tangy taste) (note that amazons also carries organic rice vinegar! I can’t speak to them as I haven’t tested them yet)
- sea salt ( I use fine French grey sea salt… again I buy it in bulk because I use it for fermenting and for all my food from the San Francisco Salt Company)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 tsp ginger powder ( or fresh is even better!)
- optional: coconut aminos or low sodium soy sauce
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Turn on the steam cooker with about 2 inches of water in the bottom pot. Take the pound of raw shrimps and thaw them in warm water. If shrimps are cooked, do the same. For our family of 6 with little kids I use one pound of medium or large shrimps. Get a pot and heat up about 1 qt of water to cook the rice noodles.
- Slice the cabbages, transfer to the bowl
- Julienne/ grate/ use a mandoline slicer to grate the carrot on a thicker mode
- Do the same with beet if you will use one
- If non organic, peel the cucumber. Cut it lengthwise in 4, then cut the cucumber again in small pieces. Slice the pepper in thin, long slices.
- Transfer all vegetables to a large serving bowl , and the thinly sliced fresh cilantro.
- If the steam cooker is hot and abundantly steaming, transfer shrimps in. Thawed shrimps even raw don’t need more than about 5-7 minutes in the cooker. If you let their size decrease too much, they will become tough and chewy. Watch them close! I always steam my shrimps, even the precooked one, to make sure no bacteria developed and to remove some of the chemicals and toxins they may add in frozen foods. They will taste better after going through the Vitalizer, I assure you!
- While shrimps heat up, add the rice noodles into the water
- Make the dressing: in a bowl, add olive oil, sesame oil, pressed cloves of garlic, ginger powder, 1 tbsp of sea salt. Mix well with a spoon. Let sit for a little while for the garlic enzymes to develop and its taste to expand!
- After about 5 minutes, transfer shrimps into the salad bowl, then strain the noodles, rinse with cold water, and transfer into the salad bowl. Use salad tongues to mix before adding the dressing. Add the dressing and mix again. To decorate, add the handful of cashews, and a few leaves of cilantro.
- I do not add soy or aminos in my salad, but my husband and kids like it . To add it directly to the salad, add about 1/3 of a cup soy or aminos over the bowl after mixing the dressing. You are free to try it both ways!
NB: I tend to UNDER salt. But with soy and aminos, more salt is added to the salad. My policy is, it’s easier to add more in your plate than remove from the dish. Have a salt shaker at hand on the table as you eat, and you’ll be fine!
Please leave a comment if you like or dislike, let me know if something is off in the recipe. I made this many time, but I don’t really measure, so if something is off, I’d love to correct myself.
Thank you!
Bon appétit!
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