I can imagine the thought of salad in the middle of winter is enough to make you shudder. Unless of course you’re up to the gills from eating rich, heavy food over the festive season. In which case, my crunchy and vaguely exotic sweet ‘n’ sour salad is just what the doctor ordered.  It’s healthy, refreshing, colourful and surprisingly moreish, and likely to leave you feeling ever so slightly virtuous.

The whole point of this salad is to use what’s in your fridge and cupboard. So as far as the salad leaves are concerned you can improvise. I used seasonal baby salad leaves and romaine, but bitter leaves like endive and chicory would also work well. Likewise, for the crunchy nut topping, go with whatever’s leftover from Christmas peanuts, macadamias, pecans and walnuts all work well. If that happens to be walnuts, roast them in the oven first, to bring out their nutty sweetness. 

In the event you don’t have ketjap manis, most larger supermarkets will stock it, but please don’t be tempted to buy the god awful Go Tan stuff.  If you’re going the supermarket route, Waitrose is probably your best bet. They stock Cook’s Brand from Malaysia which is pretty good. Otherwise go online to Infusions For Chefs who stock  Cominex one of my favorite brands. On the otherhand, if you’re lucky to have an Asian supermarket nearby you’re likely to be spoilt for choice.

If you haven’t used ketjap manis before, the taste isn’t dissimilar to soy sauce but it’s much sweeter, denser and less salty.  I suppose  in the worst case scenario you can always use soy and sweeten it with a generous spoonful of sugar. I can’t promise it’ll be as good, but it will work well enough.  N.B: A word of warning, don’t be heavy handed with the sesame oil – it has a tendency to overpower and will definitely spoil the lovely dressing.

Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Effort Level: Easy
Shelf Life: Eat immediately

Ingredients:
1 bag mixed baby leaf seasonal salad
1 head of Romaine lettuce
4 spring onions
10 radishes peeled and left whole
2 stick celery
1 large carrot
2 small or 1 large orange + juice
Sesame seed oil
Ketjap manis
A handful of nuts
Rock salt 

Equipment:
Chopping board & sharp knife
Baking sheet
Cheese grater
Salad bowl 

Here’s What You Do:
If using walnuts, turn the oven to 170C/Gas 3.
Scatter them onto a baking sheet then slide onto the top oven shelf.
Peel the radishes, keeping them whole, then transfer to the salad bowl.
Add the baby salad leaves and the romaine, roughly torn.
Grate the carrot over the leaves.
Finely slice the spring onions and celery sticks and add to the bowl.
Peel the orange removing all the white pith.
Slice down either side of the membrane to remove the orange segments, catching the juice and adding it to the bowl, along with the segments.
Next add a miniscule amount of sesame seed oil (a few drops no more).
Now pour a thin drizzle of ketjap manis over the leaves.
Grind over some rock salt and toss well, coating the leaves in the dressing.
Lastly, take the walnuts out the oven (if using) and crumble over the top.
Otherwise, roughly chop your chosen nuts and scatter over the salad.
Serve.

Tags: easy, quick n'easy salad, salad