Pad Thai Salad with Tahini Dressing

I have become a fan of the Engine 2 Diet and the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue Challenge on Facebook.  They have new challenges every week where you are to create a bowl using 3 ingredients that they choose.  You can use other ingredients as well just as long as you use the 3 required foods.  This week it is cabbage, lentils and vinegar.  I had red cabbage in my fridge that needed to be used like now so I knew I wanted to use that in some way.  I remembered a great dish I had at a juice bar a while back.  It was vegan pad thai made with zucchini noodles and it was so darn good!  So I thought that I would try to do my own version of that dish only in salad form.

I wanted to use lentils instead of peanuts somehow so I decided to try roasted lentils...I cooked some lentils and added some spices and spread them out on a lined cookie sheet and baked them for probably 35 minutes, stirring them around every 15 minutes.  They came out crunchy with a little bit of heat from the spices.  They are really good!!  I have extra to snack on. Yay!

For the salad I just spiralized some cucumber and carrots, then I thinly sliced my red cabbage and a red pepper.  I added some sliced scallions, regular green lentils and cilantro.  Then dressed it with a tahini salad dressing.  I loved the way it turned out and it was delicious!  So glad I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  If you would be interested in the Engine 2 diet please check it out!  Your body will thank you for it!  

Pad Thai Salad with Tahini Dressing

For the salad:

1 English Cucumber, spiralized

2 carrots, spiralized

1/3 head of red cabbage, sliced thin

1/2 cup prepared lentils

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

3 scallions sliced on the diagonal

cilantro to you liking

roasted lentils

For the dressing:

1/4 cup tahini

2 Tbsp tamari

1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 tsp finely chopped ginger

Add everything in a large bowl except roasted lentils then add tahini dressing (reserve some dressing) and mix with hands to coat all ingredients. 

Arrange on plates and sprinkle with some roasted lentils then drizzle with reserved salad dressing.  

To make dressing:  add everything to a bowl and whisk (refrigerate until ready to use)

Makes 2 nice size servings

Enjoy!

Be Well!