Red Cabbage Salad with Peanut Chicken

Red cabbage with its antioxidants and crunch makes a great salad on its own or in combination with crisp lettuce and carrots. Here, Red Cabbage is the main item, topped with peanutty chicken for a filling meal. Prepare the red cabbage salad a day ahead and let it develop flavor before enjoying.

The dressing is what makes this salad interesting for me - easy to remember because it is just a teaspoon of each; and even though it looks like there are a lot of ingredients, it comes together easily. Plus, of course, a well-stocked set of staple condiments and herbs and spices and oils and vinegars come in handy...

Sweet-Spicy Chili Dressing:
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sambal oelek
1 tsp stone-ground brown mustard
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp blue agave nectar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp crushed dry red chilies (optional)

Combine the dressing ingredients and toss with shredded red cabbage. About half medium red cabbage, approximately about 3 packed cups of shredded cabbage, drenched with the dressing yield from the above makes it perfect for me. As always, use as much or as little dressing as preferred.

Peanut chicken is a favorite salad topper, much like curried chicken or grilled lemon chicken. Simply pan cook a couple of marinated chicken tenders, cut them up, and toss with peanut sauce.

Peanut Sauce:
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sambal oelek (less if preferred)

2 tsp agave nectar
1 tsp light low-sodium soy sauce
water as needed to make the sauce to desired consistency