Red Cabbage and Mizuna Salad

A quick lunch for the day after a rich meal at an Indian restaurant. It's light, but a full meal. You'll feel so healthy after eating it that it will make it seem like the paneer jalfrezi and aloo jeera never happened the night before.  


This is one of my "oh no I didn't cook what am I going to have for lunch tomorrow" meals. And it turned out so well, I thought I'd share it with you. This one actually made my take-out-ordering lunch buddies a little jealous. And it was so little effort. I tried to get a good shot of the salad before I left for work this morning, but it didn't turn out so well. Another pictureless post, I'm afraid. But make it anyway. It's delicious.


I actually think mizuna may be my new favorite salad green. It's slightly bitter, but not overly so. It's heartier than your usual salad greens and adds an unusual flavor to your salad. The red cabbage adds some substance, the tofu some protein, and the dressing a salty-sweet note. It's really the best salad you'll even make after eating too much Indian food on your birthday (because you found two dishes that you and your extreme-picky-eater boyfriend would both actually eat and you could actually split things...it was a birthday miracle!) and then coming home and watching Ally MacBeal from Netflix (is it sad that this is the best birthday ever? Does it make me old? I don't know...I don't really care). Or you, know, just a tasty salad.

I thought about packing this salad for work in two ways: tossing everything but the mizuna with the dressing and packing it separately. Or just putting the salad together and packing the dressing separately. I opted for the latter, but I could imagine throwing this together more coleslaw-style would be amazing.

Red Cabbage and Mizuna Salad
1 1/2 c finely shredded red cabbage
1/2 bunch of mizuna
1/2 c leftover cooked whole grains (I used barley, but brown rice or wheat berries would probably be good)
1-2 oz tofu, cut into 1/2" thick slices
toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:
1 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
1 t mirin
1/4 t soy sauce
1 small clove garlic, chopped

Toss together all of the salad ingredients except the tofu and sesame seeds in a large bowl.

If desired, cook the tofu in a hot pan until golden on both sides. Allow to cool a bit and cut into thin strips. Add to the salad and top with the tofu and sesame seeds.

Whisk together the dressing. Toss with the salad.

Serves 1