A Roasted Veggie Salad – inspired by Pei Wei

Thai-style Roasted Vegetable Salad

I like Pei Wei. Yes I know its a chain, and we foodies have been told by popular culture to not like chains. I still like it. For those of you not in the US, Pei Wei is a restaurant that offers Americanized version of East Asia cuisine with influences coming from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia primarily. The food is flavorful and fresh and there is always something interesting to try on the menu.

On my last visit there I tried a new menu item they had – Wok Roasted Vegetable Salad. It was roasted vegetables tossed with lettuce and some kind of a miso vinaigrette. It was good. I wanted to try making something similar. As many of you know, I am Indian ergo, I am cheap. I bought a grill in the summer and feel compelled to use it since I have spent good money on it. That is where I went to roasted vegetables.

Instead of using a Wok, I lightly coated veggies (bite sized pieces of Green and Red Bell Pepper, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Carrot) with some minced garlic, soy sauce and olive oil and then grilled them. I used some chopped up lettuce(in hindsight, you could leave the lettuce out) and tossed the veggies with it. For salad dressing I used my standard Thai Green Papaya Salad Dressing (recipe below). The salad was great. I would make it again.

FOR THE DRESSING

3 Tbsp Soy Sauce (or 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce and 1 Tbsp Soy Seasoning Sauce)

Juice of 1 large lime

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp Sriracha sauce (aka Rooster sauce – hot sauce)

STEPS

1. Mix them all together and adjust for taste. If you need more salt, add Soy; more tart, add lime; more sweet, add brown sugar; and more heat, add Sriracha.