Rainbowy Chopped Salad

We all need some colors in our lives to feed our body and soul.  Life without colors is like eating food without flavors.   Well, that just sounds boring, isn’t it?  

My oh-so-good-for-your-body-and –soul chopped salad today is buzzing with beautiful and gorgeous colors.  It’s not exactly a recipe per se as it’s too easy to put together.  You can make it ahead and keep it in the fridge and eat for lunch for a few days.   It’s great with any proteins of your choice or even having it alone by itself for those who prefers meatless.   Also, there is no limitation on using any kind of fresh veggies you have on hand.  I just wished I had garbanzo beans in mine but I ran out of them this time (as I still tried to get over the missing of my favorite beans

The dressing itself is as easy as tossing together the chopped veggies.  The basic is just the combination of oil, acidity of rice vinegar, lime, or lemon, and salt and pepper.  Other spicy stuff is just the addition for your own liking.   The trick is that this salad needs to be chilled in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to give all the flavors a chance to socialize and getting to know each other’s.   This refreshing salad may look like a summer salad.  But who said you can’t eat summer salad in the winter.   

Do I have to say how healthy this salad is?   Look at the combination of the colors.  It’s stunningly nutritiously beautiful!  

What you need:  for 4 servings

The dressing:

5 tbsp. Rice vinegar

1 tbsp. sugar (or honey)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. chili sauce

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 tbsp. garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp. fresh ginger, finely grated or chopped

: Whisk together all the ingredients until the sugar I s dissolved and set aside.

The veggies:

1 cup cooked sweet potato, chopped – peeled and cut sweet potato in small cubes and cooked in boiling water for 5-7 minutes just they are still firm to the bite and immediately rinse and put them in the ice bath to stop cooking and preserve the color, drain and set aside.

1 cup shelled and cooked edamame or soy beans – cook the frozen soy beans in boiling water for 5 minutes and give them an ice bath to preserve color, drain and set aside.

1 cup Persian cucumber, chopped

1 cup corn (from the can or cook fresh)

1 stalk celery, chopped

1/2 cup or 2 small mini sweet pepper, chopped

1 cup grape tomato, halved

1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup parsley, chopped  

: Add all of the chopped veggies in a large mixing bowl, except the chopped parsley as it will be added at the end, and pour over the dressing and gently toss together to mix well.  Refrigerate the salad for at least 25 minutes before serving.