Sweet and Pungent Sesame and Chicken Salad with Spicy Coconut Cashews

As a diet and nutrition heretic, my only rule of eating is that food feed me body and soul.  After several days of unremarkable, unphotogenic, ultimately unpalatable food, food that sounded good when I was tired and hungry and just wanted convenience, I admitted that none of it was really making me feel good.  So, this morning, when my vitality was still high and not yet expended on crises of parenting or whatever, I started slicing and chopping and mandoline-ing.  (Is there a verb for using a mandoline?) 

The result was this asian-inspired, sweet and pungent, sesame and chicken salad.  The sesame-ginger dressing started out from a bottle but I spiked it up several orders of magnitude in the Vitamix. It was a great lunch.  So good I am repeating it for supper.  Apparently, though, I can't get enough of that spicy sweet combination and I added a big handful of these spicy coconut cashews to the redux.

I wish I had one of those gluten-free, rice-based beers that my husband thinks is so revolting but I find delightfully light and refreshing.

Sweet and Pungent Sesame and Chicken Salad

Using whatever tools and appliances you have at hand, finely slice whatever quantity and ratio you like of the following:

Green Cabbage
Romaine Lettuce
Cilantro 
Red Bell Pepper
Anaheim Pepper
Carrot
Celery
Shallot
Mushrooms
Cooked Chicken


(Other additions that would have been great if I'd had any in the house, fresh bean sprouts, water chestnuts, any of the many varieties of Asian mushrooms, bok choy.  Really, the possibilities are endless.)

Toss together in a large bowl with a tablespoon or so of dressing, just enough to get everything damp.  More dressing can be added after plating if more flavor is desired. Don't get the salad too wet; it will become soggy and the dressing flavors will overwhelm the sweet crunchy vegetables.

Sesame Ginger Dressing

I started with Newman's Own Sesame Ginger Dressing but it would probably taste even fresher and lighter starting simply with a light vegetable oil and a mild rice wine vinegar and soy sauce.  I put about a 1/4 cup dressing into the Vitamix and added a large clove of raw garlic, several chunks of dried candied ginger, and several shakes of red pepper flakes. After starting it whizzing around in the blender, I added a splash of tamari sauce and maybe 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil.  I might have added some sesame seeds.

Spicy Coconut Cashews

Heat a small cast iron skillet.  Toss 3/4 cup cashews in 2 tablespoons San-J Hot and Spicy Marinade and Stir Fry sauce and 1 tablespoon coconut oil until well coated.  Add to the hot skillet.  Stir frequently.  Cook until the liquid evaporates and the sauce has melded with the nuts.  Transfer to a mixing bowl and dust heavily with powdered coconut (I made mine by finely grinding some dried young coconut pieces in a coffee grinder).