To be honest, I've always seen and been curious about this salad at the Whole Foods Deli, but I have never actually tried it. When I saw that there were a plethora of homemade versions out there on the interweb (the one that particularly inspired me was this one), I figured it would be a good opportunity to try making it for myself. This is a great salad for those days you feel like "detoxing" after not eating so great ( Like me, at work...) or just a great side dish to have on hand.
I've talked about the benefits of eating raw cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc. with all of their vitamins, fiber, and disease fighting phytochemicals before on a post. In fact, Cy's Broccoli Salad is still one of my favorite salads, but this one is a good one to have in the arsenal.
If you notice, this recipe uses Kelp granules - a new ingredient for me. I've always known that sea vegetables have amazing nutritional value, and they are a major part of Japanese cooking, but I didn't realize that they offer kelp in granule form - kind of like a healthier version of salt I guess, almost like furikake. You can find them in most grocery stores and read more about them here. I think it's great that they make this so that benefits of sea veggies can be incorporated into western dishes. I will definitely be doing more posts on Japanese dishes that feature sea vegetables in the future :)
In the meantime, eat more cruciferous veggies!
{Whole Foods Detox Salad}
makes about 4cups of salad
1bunch broccoli
1/2head cauliflower
2-3medium carrots
1/2cup dried currants
1/2cup sunflower seeds (or any nut)
a few tbsp of kelp granules
1/2cup chopped fresh parsley
juice of 1small lemon
4-5tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
salt & pepper to taste
1. Chop vegetables in a food processor until you get small pieces.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until combined and that's it!
Note: I chopped my vegetables a little bit too fine than I meant to...I wanted somewhat larger chunks - but it still worked *shrug*
The salad looks great! FYI, I've seen kelp salt in Japanese grocery stores, usually next to the spices (like Shichimi) in the small shakers! I haven't had a chance to use the kelp salt that much, but now I can. Thanks! Also, I think chopping it up into smaller pieces is probably good for digestion :)
ReplyDeleteThanks :) Oh I didn't know they had it in Japanese grocery stores too - good to know.
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