Concept Salad Recipe

*photo by abillionveg

The Concept Salad that we teach to students in our Healing Nutrition programme incorporates these core principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and allows our digestive fire and absorption of nutrients to be optimal (and not depleted by too much coldness). While a typical raw salad is a cooling meal that we can eat more of in these hot summer months, a Concept Salad can be adapted to each season’s needs by considering:

• The vegetables that are available locally
• Whether we need to clear heat, hydrate and cleanse or to warm, fortify and build (choosing ingredients according to their thermal natures)
• The proportion of raw to cooked foods (prepared grains and roasted vegetables added to a salad help us maintain harmony with a colder environment)

We also create balance within our bodies-minds-spirits by incorporating a spectrum of tastes (the Five Flavours recognized by TCM) into our Concept Salad:

• Bitter (this can be dandelion greens in the spring, and endive or frisée in the summer)
• Sweet (summer offers us tomatoes and beetroot, for example)                 
• Pungent/Spicy (foods such as rocket and spring onions)
• Salty (try pickled vegetables, or miso added to a dressing)
• Sour (most easily from vinegar or lemon juice)

We include a range of textures:

• Soft (tender lettuces, for example)
• Crispy (such as raw carrots or radishes)
• Toasty (try pan-toasting some sunflower seeds)

As for a dressing: develop a habit of making your own! The quality of ingredients, nutrition and vitality will be far better than what is found in bottled ones. 

*photo by Joanna Kosinska

Here’s a basic formula for salad dressing:
• 3 parts oil – extra virgin olive oil, nut and seed oils, infused oils
• 1 part acid – vinegars (such as balsamic, red wine, apple cider, coconut, salty umeboshi) and/or citrus juice (orange, lemon)           
• Mustard  (as an emulsifier)
• Sea salt and pepper
• Herbs and pungents (ideally fresh)

You can also try experimenting with substituting an organic tahini paste for the oil, fresh lemon juice as the acid, and white miso instead of mustard. Thin with warm water as needed.

We also have a few suggestions for how to benefit from these cleansing foods without creating undue stress in your digestive system:

• Drink some warm green tea or miso soup before eating any raw or cold meals.
• Try eating your salad as close to noon as possible (this is the most yang, or warming, part of the day when our digestive strength is best equipped to handle cool, yin foods).

Again, we always seek the right thing at the right time in the right amount to keep ourselves in balance.