Shrimp and Lotus Rootlet Salad

An Asian inspired salad filled with red cabbage, sweet carrots, refreshing basil, crunchy lotus root, and juicy shrimp.  Simple to make and healthy, this salad is a great option for the summer season.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! How did you celebrate? I’d love to know what everyone did.

After a weekend filled with so much food, I decided I wanted a dish that’s a little bit healthier. What’s more perfect than a salad? If you haven’t noticed yet, I really like my food to be filled with lots of color and texture. This dish is exactly what I’m looking for. With ingredients such as red cabbage, carrots, basil, lotus rootlets, and shrimp, this salad is very refreshing and delicious.

This weekend has been pretty hectic so I’m going to keep this post short. But I’ll be back with a longer post in two days. =)

First, boil water and cook shrimp until it turns from a gray translucent color to a solid orange color. Drain the shrimp and allow it to cool for a few minutes before slicing the shrimp in half lengthwise. By cutting the shrimp in half, you give the illusion that the salad has a lot more shrimp than you actually added. Set aside for now.

Cut the cabbage into thin slices. Add lemon juice and thoroughly mix.  The lemon juice helps soften the cabbage. Add fish sauce and sugar to the cabbage and mix until the seasoning is fully incorporated. The fish sauce is extremely salty. By adding lemon and sugar, it helps balances out the taste.

If you’re on a gluten-free diet, check the ingredients to the fish sauce. There are types of fish sauce out there that are gluten-free. =)

Julienne or cut the carrots into matchsticks.

Slice the lotus rootlets at an angle so that it looks slanted instead of little circles.

I know this says pickled lotus rootlets, but it doesn’t have a taste. I grew up eating these in Asian salads. They add a little crunch to the salad. I really recommend adding the lotus rootlets at the end though because they absorb flavors very easily. If you leave them too long in the lemon juice, the rootlets will taste sour. Trust me on this.

Chop or tear up basil into smaller pieces. You can also leave the basil whole if you prefer.

Add the carrots, lotus rootlets, basil leaves, and shrimp to the cabbage. Mix until all the ingredients are evenly distributed.

Top with sliced chili peppers if desired.

Serve cold and enjoy!

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