How's everyone going with eating healthy this month so far? Isn't that what January is all about? Hiding all the chocolate, eating lots of green stuff and pulling out your runners and dusting them off. Well I can't say I've hidden the chocolate all that well and the runners are still sitting hidden in the cupboard. But my excuse is I've just had a baby and it's all a little too early to be putting away the chocolate and trying to get into some exercise routine this early. You have to take your time with these things. Well that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it...... well for now anyway until I get sick of wearing yoga pants all day. If you're a mum you know what I am talking about. It becomes a staple uniform after giving birth. To comfortable and to convenient.

I'm still enjoying eating some good healthy green stuff though. This latest salad creation was whipped up one evening when time was short and I needed a nice side dish to go with a couple of nicely barbecued T-bone steaks. This salad dare I say is summer in a bowl with fresh vine ripened tomatoes, vibrant yellow zucchini's and fabulous curly kale to top it off. I know anything kale is probably so 2014 but I've got it growing in abundance in my garden at the moment. That and yellow zucchini's are coming out of my ears. I've included these too in the salad. Gently sauteed with a smidgen of garlic. I love them cooked this way as they are but tossed through this salad gives it a bit more sustenance.

I adore different textures in my salad and the crunch factor is one of my favourites. I generally go with nuts tossed through the salad either gently toasted cashews, almonds or Pepita's but today I went with crunchy noodles. These noodles are usually used in the stock standard wombok salad which is drenched in a sweet soy and sesame oil dressing. It's a favourite at most barbecues and I can never go past it if it's sitting on the table. I thought I would try and pull it out of it's stock standard wombok oblivion and toss it through this ultra delicious kale salad. It was a good decision. Some salads can be classed as a ladies salad but this one has a bit of guts to it which appeals to the lads. Hubby gave it two thumbs up when I served it up to him and with a deliciously charred T-bone alongside I think it was the perfect summer meal.

Now let's talk about the dressing. It is super dooper simple only three ingredients but oh so moreish. If a dressing can be described as that. If you are a chilli freak like me this will so go down a treat. It is not overly hot as such but the sambal oeleck gives it a nice warmth. I used a bought whole egg mayonaise but if you are a puritan you could make your own fresh and mix in the sambal. A squeeze of lime adds a nice fresh kick and rounds out the flavours nicely. I would only add the dressing just before serving so as not to make the crunchy noodles soggy. I made up quite a bit of this dressing and I couldn't help myself adding it to all my salads during the week. It is creamy, slightly spicy with a kick of lime. I'm a bit addicted to it to say the least.

Crunchy Asian Kale Salad With Spicy Sambal Dressing

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 5 min

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

Salad:

2 medium yellow zucchinis, sliced on a diagonal
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large bunch curly kale, finely shredded
1 cup baby spinach
2 large tomoatoes, cut into thin wedges
100g packet Changs fried noodles (*You can buy a gluten free version of these)

Dressing:

1/3 cup whole egg mayonaise
1 1/2 tablespoon sambal oeleck
juice 1/2 lime
salt/pepper

Instructions:

Salad

In a small pan placed over a medium heat drizzle in the olive oil.
Add the zucchini slices to the pan and sautee` for 2-3 minutes until lightly golden.
Add in the garlic and cook for a further minute tossing through the zucchini. Remove from the pan to cool.
In a large salad bowl layer half the shredded kale, spinach, tomatoes and cooled zucchini slices and fried noodle. Repeat the next layer with the rest of the ingredients topping with the noodles last.
Drizzle the dressing over the top of the salad just before serving to avoid the noodles going soggy.

Dressing

In a small jug place the mayonaise, sambal, lime juice and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Mix together until combined. This can be kept in a airtight container for up to a week.

Cooks Notes
You can substitute toasted cashews for the noodles and it tastes just as good.

What's your favourite ingredient in a salad??