Banh Mi Salad Bowl

About two months ago, I was traveling for work. It was midday, and the group I was with was sitting down to a catered lunch. The place they ordered from was this health food restaurant that sold sandwiches, wraps, grain bowls and salads. After reading the different lists of ingredients in an assortment of different salad bowls that we could choose from, I selected one called a “Banh Mi Bowl”

Inside the Banh Mi Bowl was chicken breast, brown rice, quinoa, roasted mushrooms, pickled cabbage, carrot and daikon radish. It was also topped with a scoop of fresh avocado. Served alongside the salad was what the restaurant called their ‘housemade’ tamari dressing.

You guys.

That salad was SO GOOD.

I was not prepared. It was the kind of food that is so good, it makes you sad while you’re eating it, because you know it’s going to be all gone soon.

When I returned home from my trip, I still could not stop thinking about that friggin salad. I wanted another one soooo bad–but unfortunatley, that helath food restaurant doesn’t have a location where I live.

Figures, right?

Well, I’m a Libra and that tends to make me stubborn. True, I couldn’t get the exact same salad–but that didn’t mean I couldn’t try to replicate it myself at home, especially when most of the ingredients were relatively easy to either buy or get my hands on.

I typically don’t put quinoa, rice or other grains in my salad, as I tend to find it a bit too filling and heavy on my stomach, but you can always add either one in this if it’s your preference. I did leave in the chicken breast, as it’s my favorite protein. The roasted mushrooms are really underrated heroes here, as mushrooms can have a somewhat ‘meaty’ taste depending upon how they’re preppaed, and I also really appreciate their earthy flavor, which lends itself perfectly to a salad.

The pickled veggies are perfect accompaniments to this because their acidic flavor overall balances well against the earthy mushrooms, but also because, each individual vegetable has a slightly different taste when pickled that works well together. The mashed avocado threw me for a loop when I first tried it with the original salad. It isn’t what I usually think of when I think of banh mi. But not only does it give the salad an added healthy boost, there’s also a richness it lends to the salad that’s hard to explain, but just really works.

And finally, we have the dressing; what I see as the REAL star of the show. The tahini gives it a nutty flavor that is balanced out with the salty umami-like flavor of the tamari sauce. Lemon juice or rice wine vinegar brings the acid, and honey brings the sweetness to round it all out. The combination of these flavors, drizzled over the already winning combination of salad ingredients makes this salad a chef’s kiss that definitely satisfied my craving for the original banh mi salad bowl.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think 😉

Sharing at Fiesta Friday #631.