Chop Chop!

When I'm not galavanting across Europe eating my body weight in pasta and cured meats enriching our cultural and spiritual lives through travel, you can find me in Seoul trying to be healthy.  Which I am surprisingly good at.  For the first two thirds of the day anyway.  After 5pm it normally goes horribly, horribly pear shaped.  My mornings are all yoga and gym and probiotic yoghurt, my lunches are salads followed by a brisk walk.  But then it's usually an aperitif followed by too much wine and red meat and tons of carbs... But I think that's what they call a 'balanced' lifestyle, so it's all good.

Anyhow, back to lunch.  Salads can be kind of boring can't they?  But not when they are a chopped salad!  A delicious flavour burst in every bite, contrasting textures, tangy goodness - I read somewhere that a perfectly formed chopped salad should deliver a delightful balance of flavours in every forkful.  They are the best and there are endless variations so they never get boring.  

And they are so very easy to make.  Just assemble your ingredients, chop everything up, throw it in a bowl and mix well.  Then eat!  Here's one I made recently - I used tuna in spring water, crunchy iceberg lettuce, avocado, green beans, tomato, spring onions, parsley, Spanish olives and a simple dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Oh, and capsicum but if I made the same again I'd leave out the capsicum!

I served with water crackers and dill pickles on the side, mainly because I can not seem to eat a single meal (save breakfast) without involving some kind of pickle.  Just looking at this photo is making me want to eat a pickle actually.  Perhaps it's the influence of that kind of addictive sour taste in Korean food?  Or perhaps it's just because pickle is such a great word to say.

So chopped salad, delicious yes?  Here's some other ideas to try out:

- Grilled chicken, avocado, finely shredded cos lettuce, pistachios, a hint of basil; I think this would work nicely with a creamy dressing, a bit of mayo and yoghurt and lemon juice maybe?

- Kidney beans, corn, red and yellow capsicum, celery, lemon juice and olive oil

- Chickpeas, tons of parsley, salad onion, tomato, green capsicum, lemon juice and olive oil

- Lentils, spinach, red onion, tomato, parsley and mint; with a yoghurt and lemon juice dressing

- And I haven't tried this yet but I reckon something with prawn and mango as a base would be pretty tasty too

Let me know what your favourite combo is!