Baby Spinach and Kumquat Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing

spinach-and-kumquat-salad-with-orange-sesame-dressing

Kumquats are gorgeous little citrus fruits with a sweet rind and sour flesh. Think of them as bright flavored, miniature oranges. You can eat kumquats whole, rind and all. They add a lovely, fresh, sweet-sour pop to this baby spinach salad. If you dont like or dont have kumquats, just use orange segments (or similar citrus fruit) instead.

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Staying with the citrus theme, I used an orange and sesame dressing for this salad. Using frozen orange juice concentrate is the secret here. The concentrate gives the dressing great flavor without watering it down (like regular orange juice would).

 orange-sesame-dressing

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Fresh Baby Spinach and Kumquat Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing Recipe

serves 2

for salad
4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, loosely packed
6-8  kumquats
6 small red onion rings
2-3 tablespoons toasted pecans (I didnt use pecans)

for dressing
4 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
salt and pepper

Wash and pat dry the spinach leaves. Wash and cut each kumquat into 3 or 4 rounds. Cut the red onion into thin rings. Assemble all ingredients for the salad in a serving dish.

Whisk together all ingredients for the dressing. Serve with spinach salad.

Enoki Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Crispy Seitan in Sesame Honey Sauce

Ive walked past boxes of snowy white Enoki Mushrooms at the Asian store. I’d stop to admire these floral looking clusters, but never bought them because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. But this time I picked up a box, telling myself if they were so pretty to look at I’m sure they’ll taste good.

Enokis are a delicate, slightly sweet mushroom. They hardly need any cooking. Infact, you could use them raw in this recipe if you wish.

Crispy SeitanSeitan – about 5 large pieces. I use white wave seitan.
Rice or plain flour – 6 tbsp
Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp
Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil

Mix the flour, chili powder, garlic powder and salt. Dredge the seitan pieces in the flour mixture. Heat one tbsp of oil in a pan, and pan fry the seitan till golden brown on both sides.

Now place the seitan on a cutting board and let it cool. Once cooled, cut into strips.

Enoki Mushrooms and Snow PeasEnoki Mushrooms – one 7 oz box
Snow Peas – about 25
Sesame Seeds – 2 tbsp

Cut off the end one third of the enoki cluster. You should now be able to separate the mushrooms into individual stems.

Saute the mushrooms in a pan with some oil on medium heat for about 1 minute.

You could also use the mushrooms raw.

Trim the ends of the snow peas. Boil water in a pot and add snow peas. Boil for 1 minute. Drain snow peas and place them in an ice bath. Drain before using.

Sesame Honey SauceSoy Sauce – 4 tbsp
Sesame Oil – 4 tbsp
Honey – 1 tbsp

Whisk all ingredients together.
Combine the mushrooms, snow peas and seitan in a bowl. Pour the sesame honey sauce over the vegetables. Toss carefully.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

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Stir Fried Soy Curls with Spicy Sesame Sprout Slaw

For a week I’d waited impatiently. Then I came home this evening and there it was outside my front door! My 6 bag shipment of Butler Soy Curls! All the way from Grand Ronde, Oregon. I knew exactly what my very first recipe using soy curls was going to be.
A stir fry with soy curls and broccoli is on the menu today. I also used sprouts and red cabbage to make a colorful, spicy slaw.

Coating stuff in flour before stir frying is one of my favorite cooking methods. It creates a nice crispy crust. Here, I coat soy curls in rice flour and saute till brown. Then I toss them in a sauce.

A note on soy curls: Make sure you soak them in hot water for a good 20 minutes. Not only does this hydrate them properly, it also gets rid of the mild wheaty flavor. I added soy sauce, lemon juice, cooking wine and ginger in the soaking liquid for added flavor.

Stir Fried
Soy Curls

Soy Curls - 2 oz dry
Rice Flour – 1 tbsp. Corn flour or All Purpose can also be used. I love rice flour here, it makes things delicately crispy.
Broccoli – 8 florets
Ginger Paste – 1 tsp
Garlic Paste – 1 tsp

For the sauce:
Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice – 1 1/2 tbsp
Sugar – 1-2 tbsp depending on how sweet you like it
Sesame Oil – 1 tbsp
Chili Paste – 1 tsp, optional

Soak soy curls in hot water for 20 minutes. See note above for additional flavoring. Squeeze out all the liquid. Toss soy curls in flour and some salt, toss to coat.

Heat a work, add a tsp of canola oil or spray with Pam. Add the soy curls and stir fry on medium high till they are golden brown. Remove from wok and set aside.

Add a little more oil or Pam to the work, ginger garlic paste and broccoli and stir fry on high till the broccoli is tender but crunchy. Now return the soy curls to the wok. Add all ingredients for the sauce and cook on medium high till sauce is absorbed.

Garnish with sesame seeds, chopped cilantro and scallions. Serve with rice or noodles and Spicy Sesame Sprout Slaw (recipe below).

Spicy Sesame Sprout Slaw

Its not regular sesame seeds that make this Asian slaw special. Rather, its my secret non-asian ingredient….Tahini! It adds the ‘sesameness‘, and also a satisfying creamy consistency to the dressing.

For a lighter version, use my Piquant Plum Sauce as dressing for this slaw.

Red Cabbage – 1/4 head, finely shredded
Bean Sprouts – 1/4 pound

For dressing:
Tahini – 2 tbsp
Soy Sauce – 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice – 2 tbsp
Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
Garlic – 1 tsp minced
Chili Paste – 1 tbsp or according to taste. I like lots of it!
Mint – about 6 leaves chopped.
You could use cilantro too. I used both today.

Whisk together all dressing ingredients. If its too thick for you, add a little water to thin it out.

Toss the cabbage and sprouts with the dressing.

More Slaw suggestions: try using shredded carrots or jicama!

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