Sometimes when it’s cold and yucky out, I crave something colorful and crunchy to eat that will brighten my day. A salad does just that. This Asian Slaw and Noodle Salad has the crunch I crave from the slaw, romaine, and wonton topping, plus a little more to stick with me from the noodles. The dressing is a great combination of savory Asian flavors, plus the fresh bright zing that the lime adds in. You can also use the dressing as a meat marinade or sauce for other dishes later in the week so it’s really wonderful to make a batch and have it on hand in your fridge. Since the dressing has fresh lime juice in it, I would keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but no longer than that.
You may be thinking that I’ve already posted this salad recipe before. I love flavor combinations like this so some of the ingredients may be the same, but there are some differences with this salad and the Asian Chicken Salad that I make like Panera’s. This salad has noodles and slaw, where the Asian Chicken Salad like Panera that I make does not. The dressing on this slaw salad is not sweet like the Asian Chicken Salad. I make this salad without any meat, but you could easily serve with seasoned chicken, fish, or shrimp and it would be a great main course all in one dish. A nice piece of salmon would go great with this and you could use the dressing to either marinade, or drizzle on top of the meat.
I like my salad crunchy, so I do not put the dressing on the salad until I’m ready to eat. And I add dressing to individual servings, rather than to the large salad bowl. This way, I can keep any leftover salad in the fridge for a day and just add dressing per serving so the greens stay nice and crunchy. If I were serving a crowd and knew that they would eat all the salad up without having leftovers, then I would just toss the dressing in the salad in the large salad bowl before serving.
This salad is inspired by a local restaurant here where we live. When I go there, I usually order the Soba Noodle Salad. It has a slightly sweeter lime ginger dressing, but a lot of similar flavors and components in the salad. After I ate it a few times, I started working with different flavors and creating this recipe. It may be slightly different each time I make it, depending on what ingredients I have on hand. Before, I’ve added in edamame and chopped red pepper. This time I did not have those on hand and didn’t want to run to the store, so I left them out. You could also add in sliced or slivered almonds for more crunch and flavor or bean sprouts and anything else you like could be added as well.
A recipe is not meant to be a strict rule book to follow in order to make a dish, it should instead be a starting point for your taste buds and imagination to sprout!
Asian Slaw and Noodle Salad
Salad Ingredients
4 C or one 12 oz bag of Broccoli Slaw mix.
8 oz Somen Noodles
4 Green onions – chopped (use the white and green part)
1 C fresh Cilantro – chopped
2 C romaine lettuce – chopped
Lime-Asian Dressing (Maybe I should call this LIME-AZING dressing). This makes around 2 C so you will have extra. Keep in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Shake well before using.
1/2 C Seasoned Rice Vinegar
1/2 C Vegetable Oil
1/2 teas Sesame Seed oil
6 TBS Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1/4 teas ground ginger
Zest and Juice of 2 limes
Directions:
Whisk up all ingredients for dressing and set aside.
Chop up Romaine, Green Onions, and Cilantro and toss gently in large bowl.
Add in the Broccoli Slaw mix with the Romaine, green onions and cilantro.
Cook Somen Noodles per package instructions. For this recipe, I used 2 bundles of noodles.
Rinse noodles with cold water for a minute.
Toss in rinsed and drained noodles into the salad mixture. Toss until combined.
Serve with a little dressing drizzled over the top and add Wonton strips to the top if desired.
Enjoy!
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