Respite from rich holiday food - Light Asian salad

Today was potluck Christmas lunch at work, everyone brings a dish signing up ahead of time so that we do not get all desserts and no meat.

I noticed we were heavy on starch and meat and low on vegetables or salad (by low I mean none) So I signed up for salad. I made one that is not only light and refreshing it is also light on calories a bonus at this time of year, and also one that travels well.

For lack of a better name I will call it light asian salad.

Salad ingredients
1 napa cabbage shredded
1 long English cucumber (or several small Lebanese) finely sliced
1 bunch of green onion finely sliced
1 cup of snow peas topped and tailed
Dressing
1/2 cup of seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 cup of soy sauce
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
Juice of one lime (2 if it is not very juicy)
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1" of fresh ginger grated
1 garlic clove grated
Topping
1 package of raman noodles (those cubes that come with the package of msg flavouring)
1/3 cup of shredded fresh herbs a mixture of mint, cilantro and basil

Ahead of time (the night before in this case) mix all the salad ingredients together in a large salad bowl.

Mix all the dressing ingredients together in a water tight container taste to see if you want to sweeten it bit more as it depends on the vinegar, also you can add hot peppers but I know some people at work have trouble with spicy foods so I left them out.

Put the shredded herbs in a Ziploc bag

Crush the noodles into a Ziploc bag and discard the seasoning mix.

Ready to take or store

Place the dressing and toppings on top of the salad then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  This is good for 24 hours, so if you are entertaining you can do this all ahead, or if you are taking to a pot luck it is ready to go.

Just before serving toss the salad ingredients together with the dressing.

Just the salad and dressing

When everything is well mixed, add the toppings and toss again.

It was a wonderful pot luck, we had samosas, spicy prawns, sticky rice, two types of noodles one thin one fat, pork with quails eggs, home made ricotta with bread, layered dip, crust less broccoli quiche and more.  I was so proud of my department they went all out most of it was home made and it all tasted wonderful, but I was glad I made something green and light we needed it.

Oh and then there was home made tiramisu and wonderful cookies.  Not only are they great at Payroll, but they know how to put on a spread.

Happy Christmas! great pot luck