Rainbow Salad with Almond Butter Dressing
A solid, colorful salad recipe for the start of the New Year! I have a few core salad dressing recipes that I default to, and this almond butter dressing is one of them. It’s creamy, savory, a little tangy, and so good on a bunch of vibrant, raw veggies. As you’ll see in the notes below, all kinds of vegetables (and even fruit) can be used to make this salad. Hope you’ll give it a try for a dose of freshness sometime this January :)
Rainbow Salad with Almond Butter Dressing
serves 4-6
juice from 1 lime
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon almond butter
1 tablespoon tamari
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 medium or 1/2 small red cabbage, thinly sliced
3-4 medium kale leaves, stemmed and thinly sliced
sea salt
1 small or 1/2 medium fennel, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, grated
1 small red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
seeds from 1/2 pomegranate (see note)
In a medium bowl, combine the lime juice, almond butter, tamari, and maple syrup. Whisk together until smooth. Set aside.
Add the cabbage, kale, and a pinch of salt to a large bowl. Mix the salt in, then massage the vegetables with your hands, until they collapse in size, and become soft and juicy. Add the fennel, carrots, bell pepper, and pomegranate. Mix to combine. Pour the almond butter dressing over the vegetables, mix to incorporate, and serve. Keep refrigerated in an airtight container. This salad keeps well for 4-5 days.
Notes
I demonstrate how to de-seed a pomegranate in this video class (at minute 16:50).
Intuitive Cooking Takeaways
All kinds of vegetables and fruit can be added/subbed in here: green cabbage, raw grated butternut squash or sweet potato, shredded Brussels sprouts, apple, pear, herbs, etc.
The almond butter dressing offers a great example of the interplay of acid (lime juice), fat (almond butter), salt (tamari), and sweetness (maple syrup), and how those building blocks of flavor can come together to make something really delicious. This dressing is not only delicious in salads, but also in noodle dishes, on tofu/tempeh, or even when served as a dipping sauce for summer rolls.