January 1, 2016
Monthly Mystery Munchies #9: A 5-Layer Salad
Salads are healthy. And healthy is good. But salads also have a very bad rep of being utterly boring because, well…let’s face it, they CAN be boring.
It’s also one of the reasons why I don’t make them that often and even if I do, I don’t feel like they are worth a post. I mean, throw a bunch of greens, add some balsamic vinegar or a dollop of thousand islands and what nots and TA-DAAA, you’ve got yourself a salad.
Thousands, if not millions of other sites (229 million search results in 0.59 seconds to be exact when you google “salad”) feature the greens; I’m thinking posting one of my salad recipes ain’t going to create the tiniest ripple in the ocean. Right?
Here’s the thing though: I’ve regretfully wronged the sacred salads. Gen, my buddy over at Eat, Play, Clove once again got me out of my comfort zone with a salad challenge for this month, with her motivation that most people will be going on a post Christmas/New Year health kick under the following conditions:
- Make it fun/interesting
- Make a salad with a difference
- Not just the “usual salad”
What’s a “not the usual salad?” They all look pretty ordinary to me!
Salad = Fun?
Hardly. Granted, salads sound easy enough, but her challenge did make me go hmmmmm….and left me scratching my head for a couple of days.
A pretty tall order for someone like me who just don’t experiment enough with salads. BUT! making it with a difference? Boring as it may sound, I was actually inspired!
Then I remembered my mother-in-law’s layered Mexican salad she once made when we were in Holland. That got me thinking as to how many layers can one stack a salad without serving them IN a bowl?
Apparently I managed 5.
Only because I had used only 5 main types of ingredients. I guess I could have layered more if I wanted to…but let’s not push it.
So, without further ado, here’s my first salad recipe for the very first day of 2016.
It’s my latest creation to (somewhat) healthy start of the year creation. I don’t think I would have ever thought of making salad as something that could be fun and that I could create one with a difference if Gen has not given the nudge.
Or at least I hope this qualifies as one “with a difference”. What say you, Gen?
- 3 boiled eggs
- 2 boiled carrots
- 4-5 leaves of red cabbage, boiled. Drain off the water
- A bunch of rocket salad
- Turkey bacon, diced
- Some mayonnaise
- Some grated Parmesan cheese
- Some salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- A clove of garlic
- Shredded beef floss for topping (optional)
- Grate boiled eggs and mix 2 tbsp of mayonnaise. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside.
- Grate carrots separately. Set aside
- Separately slice the red cabbages and rocket salad thinly.Then add about 1-2 tspn of balsamic vinegar to each of them. Set aside
- In a hot pan, lightly fry the diced turkey bacon with pressed garlic till they are cooked. Set aside.
- In a circular plastic bowl, press the red cabbage as tightly as you can at the bottom. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.
- Layer the red cabbage with the egg mayonnaise on top of it. Press them together.
- Cover the egg mayonnaise with the diced cooked turkey bacon on top.
- Layer the carrots in. Press tight.Add a little mayonnaise on top
- Lastly, layer it with the red cabbage and continue to press them so they stick together one on top of the other
- When they are all tightly pressed, turn over the bowl onto a serving plate and slowly run a knife on inside to release the layered mixture from the bowl
- Top it up with sprinkles of leftover rockets or coriander (optional), swirl on some mayonnaise, grate some Parmesan cheese over it and garnish with some beef floss on top
- Serve cold.
- The turkey bacon gives the salad a nice crunch. You can choose to layer the salad in any way you want or choose to remove any meat from it.
With salads, you’d be super-charged for the merriest and the healthiest New Year!
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Monthly Mystery Munchies features every first Friday of the month in collaboration with Gen, Author of Eat, Play, Clove. Next month will be my turn to choose a theme. I haven’t got anything may have something up my sleeves yet. Until then!
This salad looks great. I am sure that it tastes delicious.
Inspired by you. 🙂 It’s worth a repeat most definitely!
Are you sure this isn’t a bagel? It looks great, and as you say, interesting!
Absolutely sure! No wheat or whatsoever! But then again, you can always imagine it to be a bagel. Come to think of it, this may taste good with bagel, too. Carbo! 🙂
Wow wow wow! You knocked it out of the ballpark! FIVE layers – that’s impressive! I love that you used turkey bacon – sooo much healthier, and, of course, parmesan! Yummy! Well done, another stellar recipe by you – and the colours are beautiful. Xoxo
Heeehehee! Thanks Gen, I was quite happy with the results too. Now that you mentioned it with the turkey bacon, I actually didn’t even think about it being healthier – only because we don’t do pork/bacon/ham and it became a natural substitute. Thanks for pointing that out. 😀 I was thinking of going raw with the cabbage initially, but didn’t think it would be so nice. (The thought of it makes me gag). I suppose you can use beet too to substitute the red cabbages. This has been really, really fun! Your have been awesome!!! xoxo.
What a genius idea and just looks so cool – and definitely not just a salad. Being a veggie Id add some grilled helium on top and a sprinkle of coriander – perfect veggie alternative – i’m reckoning also that I could probably get my children to even try this instead of just a bowl of lettuce leave – well done you – glad I found your blog on #abitofeverything
Thank you, Helen! It’s definitely kid friendly, if they don’t like the taste (especially with rockets which can be a little bitter) the colours would entice them. What’s helium by the way? (I was thinking of the gas they put in balloons!) Nice to meet you!
This sounds like a fantastic idea. Im on a healthy eating kock, and with some low fat mayo, this would be an ideal meal.
Thanks for sharing, Tracey xx #abitofeverything
kock? I don’t know why low fat mayo didn’t cross my mind at all! That’s a very good idea – thanks for that. 😀 Here’s to healthy eating and some restful weekend, Tracey!
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty!
It is! Thanks for stopping by, Wendy! 🙂