Name: Asian Chopped Salad – full of fresh flavour
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 400 grams mini Roma tomatoes ((2 small punnets)); 2 medium Lebanese cucumbers ((approximately 240 grams)); 1 medium yellow bell pepper/capsicum ((approximately 200 grams)); 1 small red onion ((approximately 80 grams)); 1 small bunch coriander/cilantro ((approximately 50 grams)*); 3 stems basil leaves*; 3 stems Vietnamese mint leaves*; 1 cup cashews ((roasted)); 2 tbsps black sesame seeds; 3 tbsps lime juice; 3 tbsps soy sauce; 1/2 tbsp fish sauce; 1 tbsp ginger (freshly grated); 1 clove garlic (minced)

Our Asian Chopped Salad is brimming with fresh herbs and colourful vegetables. Use it as a base for your favourite protein and make it a meal, or it makes a great and easy side for weekday dinners.

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ASIAN CHOPPED SALAD ON A WHITE PLATE WITH FRESH HERBS, CHILLI & CHOPSTICKS

I love using herbs in my salads, and this Asian inspired salad is full of beautiful fresh flavours. We have citrus-like cilantro/coriander, cooling mint and aromatic basil.

What I love about chopped salads is being able to taste a combination of flavours that are in the salad with each forkful.

What are Asian flavours?

As Asia is such a vast and diverse area with major regional cuisines from Central Asian, East Asian, North Asian, South Asian, Southeast Asian and West Asian there are a vast variety of ingredients and seasonings to choose from.

However, there are some commonalities listed below, and they are best used in groups of at least two to three. This will allow you to balance the five flavours of sweet, sour, salty, bitter and spicy that are a common feature in most Asian cuisines.

Ginger
Galangal
Garlic
Scallions
Shallots
Lemongrass
Herbs such as Thai basil & Cilantro/Coriander and Vietnamese mint
Soy condiments such as soy sauce and miso paste
Seafood flavours like fish sauce and shrimp paste
Coconut
Sesame seeds and oil
Rice vinegar

How we balanced the five tastes in this salad

The beauty of most Asian cuisines is the way the 5-tastes are balanced. In this salad we have added...

SALTY : with the use of fish sauce and soy sauce
SPICY : fresh chilli and ginger
SOUR : lime juice and coriander (cilantro)
SWEET : palm sugar
BITTER : garlic and red onion

LET'S TALK ingredients and substitutions

Mini Roma tomatoes - I just love these adorable pops tomatoes, sweetness. But feel free to use any tomatoes you have on hand. If you are using regular sized tomatoes then just dice them up.
Cucumbers - choose a seedless, small variety such as Persian, Lebanese, Kirby or qukes/cukes.
Yellow Bell Pepper/Capsicum - any pepper will do here, I just chose the yellow for a variety of colour.
Red onion - for its bright crimson colour and pungent bitterness. White, brown or green onions will also work well here.
Nuts and seeds - we have used roasted cashews and black sesame seeds, but peanuts white sesame seeds will also work great here.
Herbs - we have used coriander/cilantro, Asian mint and basil. If you are not a fan of coriander, then just add more of the others to make up the quantity.
Dressing - is simple soy, fish sauce, lime juice with a touch of chilli, ginger. garlic and some palm sugar to sweeten things up.

You Will Need:

ASIAN CHOPPED SALAD INGREDIENTS WITH TEXT

How to Make this Salad

1MAKE THE DRESSING
I like to start with the dressing for this salad to allow the flavours to develop.
Just place everything in a glass jar and shake until emulsified (well combined). Taste and adjust seasonings according to your taste.

ASIAN CHOPPED SALAD DRESSING INGREDIENTS IN GLASS JAR WITH LIME, SOY & GARLIC ON THE SIDE — ADD DRESSING INGREDIENTS TO JAR

SHAKEN ASIAN CHOPPED SALAD DRESSING INGREDIENTS IN GLASS JAR WITH LIME, SOY & GARLIC ON THE SIDE — ADD DRESSING INGREDIENTS TO JAR

2PREPARE THE VEGETABLES
Wash all your vegetables and pat dry.
Cut your Roma tomatoes in half across the middle or in thirds if they are large.
Trim the tops and bottoms of your cucumbers then dice.
Remove the core and seeds from your capsicum then dice.
Remove the papery skin from your and trim the top and bottom then dice.

CUTTING TOMATOES HORIZONTALLY ON A WOODEN BOARD WITH A KNIFE — CUT TOMATOES HORIZONTALLY

CUTTING CUCUMBERS ON A WOODEN BOARD WITH A KNIFE — CUT TOMATOES HORIZONTALLY

3PREPARE THE HERBS
Wash all your herbs, shake to remove excess water, pat dry remove the leaves from the stems then roughly chop them.

PICKING BASIL, VIETNAMESE MINT & CORIANDER LEAVES FROM STEMS ON WOOODEN BAORD WITH WHITE BOWL IN BACKGROUND FROM STEMS — PICK LEAVES FROM STEMS

CLOSE UP OF CHOPPING DILL, CILANTRO, BASIL ON WOODEN BOARD WITH KNIFE — PICK LEAVES FROM STEMS

4ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Add all the chopped vegetables, herbs, cashews and sesame seeds to a large mixing bowl, season with some sea salt and cracked black pepper. Pour over your dressing and then mix well to combine.

CHOPPED ASIAN SALAD INGREDIENT IN A WHITE BOWL — ADD ALL INGREDIENTS TO BOWL

09-CHOPPED ASIAN SALAD INGREDIENTS WITH DRESSING IN A WHITE BOWL — ADD ALL INGREDIENTS TO BOWL

Some Serving Ideas

This salad makes a great side to any grilled meats; it is excellent to serve with a store-bought charcoal chicken. Or it can be made into part of an Asian dinner and serve it with a Malaysian curry, crying tiger beef, chilli chicken or whole roasted Asian fish.

Can this Salad be Made Ahead?

This salad can easily be made up to an hour in advance with the dressing tossed through.
If you would like to make it several hours ahead, then keep the dressing separate then add it the salad just before serving.

Explore some more of our Asian salad ideas