Honey Sriracha Shrimp Detox Salad

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Black Rice, Sesame + Shrimp Detox Chopped Salad | displacedhousewife

honey sriracha shrimp detox salad
{ post vacation stress disorder }

Post Vacation Stress Disorder. It’s a real thing. Whether you had a staycation or went somewhere exotic, it’s So. Hard. To get back to reality. Our holiday break was filled with some mini-trips (my kids mostly, with their dad) and lots of family time. Cousins, aunts and uncles came from Southern and Northern California and they didn’t come to lay around on the couch and binge watch E! They came to hit it hard. It’s a continuous schedule of eating out, dinners in, wine tasting, tequila tasting (shooting?), lunches and morning bloodies. With lots of glasses of EmergenC thrown in there to keep stamina up. I worked up until Christmas Eve and had Christmas Eve at my house…so I really didn’t have a peaceful moment of sloth for several weeks. I didn’t want to miss one minute of the fun.

But when all was said and done, by pants were tight, I was bloated, exhausted, looked like I’d had two presidential terms and was completely spent. The harsh reality of this past Monday was brutal. Work? Exercise? Eating healthy? What??!? You mean there’s no wine lunch? School? Sports? Ugh. It was too much. It was Post Vacation Stress Disorder. It took me a solid five days, until Friday, to get my groove back. And I’m back. Kind of excited to eat healthy. Not in a scary way. I still love you butter and sugar. A lot. But consider this month a little realignment. A time to shove a little more green in our bodies and recalibrate. Are you with me?

This honey sriracha shrimp salad started as a bowl. You know those delicious concoctions that have a grain, lots of greens, some protein and usually some tahini-based dressing. They’re completely healthy, filling and generally pretty easy to throw together. But this left bowl status and eventually made its’ way into the chopped salad category. Not sad about that. It’s more greens and less grains. This Sesame Asian Salad Dressing is one that I’ve been using for awhile and whenever I want something to have an Asian vibe, I throw this on it. There’s lots of fun stuff happening here: winter citrus, pickled serranos, crunchy cashews, chopped mung beans, black rice and the honey sriracha shrimp.

Before We Get Started:

  • Pick Your Greens. This is a flexible salad. I picked kale and spinach because they’re a bit hardier and I knew they would be able to handle a day or two in the fridge. This makes a sizable amount of salad, so you’re pretty much guaranteed leftovers. If you go with arugula or something a little more fragile, it won’t last as long.
  • Pick Your Fruit. I went straight for grapefruit. I wanted that surprise tang that I knew it would add to the salad. But, feel free to substitute mandarins, blood oranges, regular oranges…whatever winter citrus excites your taste buds.
  • The Dressing. This makes just enough to lightly dress the salad….because I’m trying to keep things light. If you want a heavily dressed salad, I would double the recipe.
  • Pickled Serranos. Serranos are Mexican…so not an authentic Asian addition to the salad. I like their flavor and I wanted that spicy-sweet-savory flavor play happening here. Serrano chilies are hot. You could take it down a notch and do a jalapeΓ±o. If you don’t like hot things, skip the pickled peppers. No big.
  • Black Rice. Also referred to as Forbidden Rice. Love it. If you’ve never had it, now’s the time. It’s loaded with antioxidants and I love the flavor…more than any other rice.
  • What I’m trying to tell you is to consider this recipe a starting point…mix and match the fruits, veggies, grains and even proteins until you get the flavors that work for your palate. Have it on hand for dinner or whenever hunger strikes, it just gets better the next day.

Let’s do this.

Black Rice Sesame Detox Chopped Salad | displacedhousewife

Black Rice + Sesame Detox Chopped Salad | DisplacedHousewife

honey sriracha shrimp chopped detox salad | DisplacedHousewife

{ honey sriracha shrimp chopped detox salad }

Makes 4 Main-Course Servings

INGREDIENTS

For the Pickled Serranos:

  • 2 Serrano chilies
  • 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the Sesame Dressing:

  • Β½ cup veggie oil (I prefer the flavor of Sunflower Seed Oil…but any mild vegetable oil will do)
  • ΒΌ cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
  • 1 teaspoon garlic, grated
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

For the Salad:

  • 2 cups black rice, cooked (roughly 2/3 cup of uncooked rice)
  • 2 pounds uncooked medium shrimp, tails on, peeled and deveined
  • 2 limes, one juiced on top of the shrimp and another cut into wedges for serving
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • Β½ teaspoon each salt and pepper
  • 8 cups mixed greens (I used kale and spinach), chopped
  • 1 cup cauliflower, chopped
  • 1 cup purple cabbage, chopped
  • 1 cup mung bean sprouts, chopped
  • 1 cup grapefruit, cut into wedges and then chopped
  • 1/2 cup whole cilantro leaves
  • 1/2 cup cashews, chopped
  • Black and white toasted sesame seeds for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Cook your rice according to package instructions.
  2. Thinly slice your serrano chilies. Place them in a small bowl with the vinegar, honey and salt and let them mingle while you get everything together.
  3. Put your shrimp in a large bowl. Juice one lime on top, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon sriracha, 1 teaspoon of honey and some salt and pepper. Stir to make sure all of the shrimp is coated.
  4. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. I used my cast iron for two reasons: if I got it hot enough the shrimp wouldn’t stick and it would get some really nice color (and I can skip extra oil). If you don’t have something in the non-stick family or cast iron, then use a bit of olive oil or nonstick spray to keep sticking at bay.
  5. Cook the honey sriracha shrimp in batches. Don’t crowd your pan. They will cook in about 1-2 minutes per side. Have a plate ready to put them on so they can cool a bit.
  6. Prepare and chop all of your veggies: your greens, cauliflower, purple cabbage, mung beans and grapefruit wedges. You want everything roughly the same side. If you’re using kale, make sure not to use the stem that runs up the center of the leaf…strip the leaves off of this and then chop. Set your veggies aside.
  7. Pull your cilantro leaves from the stems so that you have 1/2 cup of whole cilantro leaves. I love whole herb leaves in salads. Set aside.
  8. Coarsely chop up your cashews and set aside.
  9. Use either a high-speed blender or a whisk (I prefer a blender) and blend all of the dressing ingredients together. Set aside.
  10. Now that your honey sriracha shrimp has cooled, chop each shrimp into about 3-4 little chunks.
  11. Next, assemble your salad. If you want it to look more like a bowl, then you want to layer the finished product. I would start with the black rice, greens in the middle, shrimp on the top, finish with the cashews and sesame seeds and drizzle the dressing on top. If you want a nice chopped salad, throw the whole thing in the bowl, including the dressing and toss. There is so much color in this salad it looks prefect without much fuss. Serve with a lime wedge for a little extra burst of citrus.

{ on my mind }

  • Some more healthy + quick meals for the week: the pomegranate + burrata salad (you could opt out the burrata and add in some grilled chicken); cheddar corn chowder, thai beef lettuce wraps, black bean veggie burgers, avocado + kale chicken salad and these quinoa + turkey burgers. All of these are in heavy rotation over here at the moment.
  • I have a cookie post coming up soon…so if you’re going through sugar withdrawals, don’t fret. It won’t be salads all month. Promise.
  • I’m loving the rain. Although when it was raining earlier this week it did nothing to help with my PVSD.
  • I’m editing some more feeds, in addition to the Scone Feed, over at thefeedfeed: Tacos, Burritos and Quesadillas and Sunday Suppers. This latter feed isn’t up yet, but I will update you as soon as it is. Go take a looksie. There is lots to inspire over there. Not only are there loads of beautiful food photos, but each links off to the recipe. So if you need more dinner, brunch, lunch, whatever inspiration, that’s where you should go.
  • I am obsessed with Overnight Oats. You might not know this unless you follow my Instagram account. Most Mondays I post an Overnight Oats recipe and give them the hashtag #mondaynightoats. If you have a great Overnight Oats Recipe, use the hashtag or head over to my Instagram (@DisplacedHousewife) and peruse my recipes. I have a new one coming out tomorrow! I have it planned to get all of these on the blog soon as well…
  • Things that I’ve made this week: Laura in the Kitchen’s One-Pot Chicken and Potatoes. I changed this quite a bit and I think I’m going to do some version of this for the blog. It was super quick, easy and completely satisfying. The other thing I made was SkinnyTaste’s Baked Potato Soup. I changed this as well and I will also probably be offering my own version soon. If you’re looking for quick and healthy dinners this week, consider these.
  • Happy New Year!! Hope you’re all #excitedAF for the new year! xoxo

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honey sriracha shrimp detox chopped salad | DisplacedHousewife


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Comments

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I love your comments, reviews and questions! If you love this recipe, please rate it when you leave a comment. Star ratings 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 help people discover my recipes. Your support means a lot, I look forward to chatting with you!

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8 Comments

  • DisplacedHousewife January 11, 2016 at 7:17 PM

    Hi Linda — It’s THE WORST!! The struggle is real! xoxo

    Reply
  • Linda | The Baker Who Kerns January 11, 2016 at 5:26 PM

    This looks like the perfect detox salad! Yum!! I am definitely going through PVSD right now…

    Reply
  • DisplacedHousewife January 11, 2016 at 4:40 AM

    Thanks Jamie, I hope you do! xx

    Reply
  • DisplacedHousewife January 11, 2016 at 4:40 AM

    Thank you Jessica!! Feeling a lot more optimistic this week!! xox

    Reply
  • Jessica | A Happy Food Dance January 11, 2016 at 4:23 AM

    I had good intentions of eating well this past week, but then I caught a head cold and binged on whatever the hell I wanted. What’s one more week of tight pants! This salad looks great – love the heat on this one! Good luck this week! xx

    Reply
  • Jaime January 10, 2016 at 11:57 PM

    Making this tonight!! This is the best idea ever!!

    Reply
  • Josh January 10, 2016 at 10:36 PM

    This looks so good! I can’t wait to try the recipe!

    Reply