Knockoff Trader Joe's Thai Peanut Salad @LucyBurdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: I don’t live very near a Trader Joe’s store, but a couple of times I have bought their Thai peanut and crispy noodles, salad kit, and enjoyed it very much. So why not make my own version? In this case, I added some chicken that we had in the freezer leftover from a roast chicken, so the salad would be the whole meal. Everything is flexible, so don’t feel bad about leaving out ingredients that you don’t like or don’t have, or adding something a little different.  

Ingredients for the sauce

1/2c creamy peanut butter

2TB rice wine vinegar 

2 Tbs lime juice (from one lime)

1-3 teaspoon soy sauce

1-3 tsp toasted sesame oil

1-2 Tbs Maple syrup 

1-3 tsp Chili crisp

1-3 Tbs water to thin as needed

Fresh ginger or garlic, if desired

To make the sauce, start with the peanut butter and stir in the other ingredients. Begin with the lower end of the range for each and taste as you go. I found that I wanted more soy sauce and sesame oil and chili crisp.

Ingredients for the salad

Cilantro 

Cabbage, several colors

Carrots

Celery

Red or green pepper

Radishes

Scallions, optional

Kale, if you have it

Shred or chop or use your food processor to grate the vegetables. You’ll see that mine are rather tiny, which I don’t recommend! I wanted to do everything with my food processor, and I started with a plate on which holes were too small. I sliced the green pepper separately as I thought it would turn to mush in the food processor.

Mix the shredded slaw vegetables with the peanut dressing, again starting with a smaller amount, stirring, and tasting as you go.

Garnish with your choice of:

Chopped peanuts

Crunchy asian noodles

Cilantro

Shredded chicken

If your fellow diners complain that it all looks too healthy, assure them that dessert is coming!

Lucy Burdette writes the USA Today Bestselling food critic mystery series! You can find them wherever books are sold...

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