Celery Sesame Salad

A crisp, crunchy celery salad with scallions and sesame seeds. The perfect side salad when you don't want lettuce

Not all salads require greens. In this case, it's a salad made entirely of a celery base. It's the perfect side to an Asian flavor inspired entree that's a bit heavier. Maybe a chili sauce salmon or a hoisin tofu. Since the celery holds up with a strong cell structure, it's a great make ahead and refrigerate dish. 

This celery salad recipe is bright and flavorful. There's ginger and jalapeño for a spunky kick. There's also sesame oil and lime: two things at different ends of the flavor weight spectrum. Sesame oil is something where a little goes a looooong way. It's very comforting and deep. Lime on the other hand is instantly brightening. But together, everything melds in just the right way to make the salad crave-able. Not too much acid. Not too much oil 

While our typical go-to for a side dish with any Asian inspired entree is roasted broccoli...or steamed broccoli...basically broccoli in any form- this celery salad is quickly becoming a favorite. We love the taste and smell of celery (cook it with onions and it smells like Thanksgiving). Since we typically have celery on hand always for cooking, it's easy to whip up on a whim. 

I think the key to this recipe is the way the celery is cut. Truly. If you just sliced it straight up and down, the pieces would be too thick to stab with a fork. And I also think it wouldn't absorb as much of the dressing liquid. With a diagonal cut, you're exposing more porous surface area for absorption. 

Celery Sesame Salad 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 stalks celery - diagonal cut
• juice of half a lime
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon minced ginger
• 1/2 - 1 tsp jalapeño
• 1 green onion (scallions), greens and whites sliced
• 1 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons fresh cilantro choppe

Directions

1. Cut celery in diagonals.
2. Add lime juice, vinegar, oil to a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour over top of celery.
3. Add salt, sesame, ginger, jalapeño and scallions to the bowl and toss to combine. 
4. Top with fresh cilantro and sesame seeds.