Coconut In This Salad Is The Bomb

I made a blanched green vegetable salad yesterday with some shaved coconut and fried onions in it. It was fine then, but today when I went to have the leftovers it was fantastic. The sweetness of the coconut and the tang of the lime had married beautifully with the chili in the salad.

I used broccolini because I found some at Trader Joes, but I have to say it was the disappointing part of the salad, at least the tough stalks. Next tie I might just use the tops of regular broccoli.

Big bunch of Broccoli- lightly steamed and shocked in cold water to stop the cooking

Big bunch of green beans lightly steamed and shocked

Cup of cooked and shelled Edamame

Cup of Cilantro leaves- chopped

¾ cup of chopped coconut – not the flaked sweet kind. I used Trader Joes Coconut sticks that I chopped

1 large sweet onion

1/3 cup of Wondra Flour or rice flour

¼ cup of olive oil –for dressing and more for frying

Juice of 2 limes and zest of one

2 small dried red chilies

1 t. mustard seeds

Make the fried onions first my very thinly slicing the onion and dredging it in the wondra or rice flour. Pour a bit of the oil in a frying pan just to coat the bottom of the pan and heat on medium heat. Use a fork to pick the onions up out of the flour so you shake any excess off the onions and put in the fry pan and cook quickly, turning to keep them from burning. Remove from the pan to a paper towel covered plate and salt while still hot. You make need to fry the onions in batches.

Make the dressing by putting ¼ cup of oil in a small pan with the mustard seeds and red chilies and heat it up on medium. Cook until the mustard seeds burst, about two or three minutes. Mash the chilies with a fork and break them into small bits. Set the oil aside to cool. Add the limejuice and zest when cool and mix well.

Put all the green vegetables in a big bowl and pour the dressing over it. Tossing everything to coat. Add the coconut – It tastes better if it can marinate overnight. Add the onions right before serving.

You can add cooked chicken or shrimp to make it a whole meal.