Tender spinach with a vibrant green color, paired with savory and aromatic nuts.
A bite of this appealing spinach salad feels like it's missing something—until you add a few nuts, instantly transforming this simple cold dish into a crowd-pleaser!
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
200 g spinach
Choose a tender, young spinach for this dish.
Spinach with Peanuts, Ingredients
Peanuts and cashews, as needed
Make sure the nuts are crispy.
Seasonings
3 cloves garlic
2 g salt
10 g rice vinegar (about 2 teaspoons)
3 g sesame oil
Instructions
Instructions
Preparation
① Wash and trim the spinach. Heat a little oil in a wok, add peanuts and deep-fry until crispy, then add cashews just before removing from heat and fry briefly together (Image 2). Spread out to cool. Mash garlic and salt together into a paste (Image 3), then stir in rice vinegar and set aside.
*In summer, cashews tend to absorb moisture, so it's best to briefly deep-fry them for extra crunch. However, cashews burn easily, so don't fry them for too long.
*The garlic must be mashed thoroughly to release its full flavor. Adding a pinch of salt helps both season the dish and prevent the garlic from splattering while you pound it.
Blanch the spinach.
② Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt, then blanch the spinach until it changes color, immediately remove (Image 4), and rinse twice in cold water to cool (Image 5).
When blanching spinach, adding salt to the water helps keep the leaves greener. Do not blanch the spinach for too long—remove it as soon as the color changes and immediately plunge it into cold water; otherwise, it will quickly turn yellow and make the dish unappealing.
A cold tossed salad dish
Gently squeeze the excess water from the spinach, then cut it into segments (Image 6) and place in a serving dish. Pour the prepared vinegar-garlic dressing and sesame oil over the spinach and toss to combine, then add the peanuts and cashews and mix well (Image 7).
*When squeezing the water out of the spinach, don't press too hard or you'll lose its nutrients—just gently squeeze out the excess moisture.
