This Asian Noodle combo may look like just another colorful lettuce salad, but there’s not a leaf of lettuce in it.  Still, it’s packed with nutritious vegetables, including carrots, Napa and purple cabbage, scallions, cilantro, cucumber, spinach, bean sprouts and mixed with noodles, peanuts and a tangy dressing.

I ran onto this rainbow of a salad on Ree Drummond’s blog, The Pioneer Woman. She said it was easy to make and it was. I tossed the ingredients together one evening for a light, meatless meal and found the Asian flavors in the dressing a perfect complement to the vegetable medley. 

I used just the amount of dressing I needed for the bowl of salad I was eating that night and saved the rest to assemble for another meal. I subbed spinach for the kale, left out the cukes, and used low-sodium soy sauce.  Chicken or salmon would make nice additions. It’s definitely a flexible salad that could easily take some broccoli or cauliflower, though I would stick with typical Asian ingredients for best results.  Next time, I’ll make the dressing up the day before, so it blends better and makes the prep time even shorter.  I’d also go with Chinese egg noodles rather than Italian pasta.

Asian Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

• 8-oz. thin spaghetti pasta
• 1 1/2 cups julienne carrots
• 1 cup baby sweet peppers, seeded, sliced into thin rings
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts
• 3 English cucumbers, halved, seeded and sliced (optional or to taste)
• 3 scallions, sliced
• Cilantro, to taste, chopped
• 1/2 head Napa cabbage, sliced thin
• 1/2 head purple cabbage, sliced thin
• 1 cup kale or spinach, shredded
• 2 cups peanuts, chopped

       Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbs. chopped fresh ginger (I used much less)
• 2 Tbs. sesame oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped

Directions:

For the salad: Bring a pot of water to boil.  Cook spaghetti to al dente, according to package directions. Drain, rinse and let cool. Combine vegetables in large bowl.  Whisk together all salad dressing ingredients and add amount desired to vegetables.