This salad has far more ingredients than the title can describe and far more flavors than you can imagine. Sliced red cabbage, sliced carrots, sliced celery, fresh mung bean sprouts, roasted sunflower seeds, chives (American), and boiled chickpeas are all tossed together with a homemade creamy jalapeno ginger hemp dressing to create this flavorful healthy salad as a complete meal for lunch.
Do you find anything you like in the long list of ingredients? Or do you want to add more of your favorite salad ingredients? Don’t hesitate to create your own version! What I can tell you right now is that this salad has an extremely fresh taste in every bite. The combination of jalapeño pepper and ginger adds a different spiciness to the dressing. Although the taste is subtle, I can definitely tell they are there without any pungent after taste. Adding fresh squeezed lemon juice brings sparkle to the whole salad and keeps the purple color of the red cabbage vibrant.
If you ever want to brighten up the red in your red cabbage, just add some acidic ingredients such as vinegar or lemon/lime juice. Red cabbage contains a water-soluble dye called anthocyanin. This dye is pH dependent, that means it changes color at different basic or acidic conditions. Under acidic condition (pH < 7) it turns red while under basic condition (pH >7) it turns bluish green. Keep this in mind when you want to use red cabbage as a homemade pH indicator.
The creamy texture of the dressing is from the ground up hemp seeds. Hemp seeds are super seeds with numerous health benefits. They are rich in vitamins and minerals, are a complete protein, and are a good plant based source of omega-3 fatty acids. Not only do they add creamy texture to the dressing, but also a nutty flavor as well. Add some boiled or canned chickpeas into the bright, fresh salad, and it can be ready for you to take to work in 10 minutes.
- 8 oz red cabbage thin strips or shredded
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 1 medium carrot thin strips
- 1 stalk celery thin strips
- 2 oz mung bean sprouts
- 1 bunch American chives chopped
- 2 tbs unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
- ½ cup hulled hemp seeds
- ¼ cup from lemon juice from fresh lemon preferred
- ¼ cup + 1 tbs water
- 1 tbs fresh ginger finely chopped
- ½ medium jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
- ½ tsp salt
- Gently massage the shredded red cabbage with salt and lemon juice. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. This step will keep the red cabbage bright purple and crunchy in texture.
- Meanwhile, in a blender mix all dressing ingredients and refrigerate before serving.
- Toss the rest of salad ingredients together with the shredded red cabbage. Serve with the hemp dressing immediately.