Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Roasted Buckwheat and Creamy Ginger Cashew Dressing
Recipe development is not always a straight road. Sometimes, a recipe works the first time around. Other times, not so much. This sugar snap pea salad started out at something entirely different. It certainly didn’t have roasted buckwheat. Or this creamy ginger cashew dressing.
It had a peanut dressing. And celery. And cabbage. And smoked tofu. And it was meh. I went through two rounds of meh, scrubbed that idea and went entirely back to the drawing board.
I figured I already had a delicious Asian-inspired soba salad with snap peas on the blog, so I decided to let the snap peas sing with this one, instead of burying them in a bunch of other ingredients.
Meet Your New Go-To Salad Ingredient: Sugar Snap Peas
If you haven’t thought to make snap peas into the salad, Google it…it’s a thing. Probably because of Ina Garten. Snap peas have such a wonderful combination of crunch and chew, sweet and green flavours. Why wouldn’t you create a salad out of them?
You might also be surprised to know how nutritious they are.
Sugar snap peas contain fibre, a bit of plant-based protein and plenty of vitamin A (for healthy skin and immunity), iron (for energy) and vitamin K (to support bone and heart health). They are a legit green veg and they deserve their place in your nutrient-dense diet.
How to Prepare Sugar Snap Peas for Salad
With such a simple salad, it’s the little things that really help it feel special. For this salad, I used stringless and pre-washed snap peas so I only had to rinse and slice them.
I recommend you slice them thinly for the best texture – crisp, but not a chore to chew. And you can do this a couple of ways:
- Slice on a 20 degree angle, making 2-3 millimetre cuts (about 1/5 of an inch). This makes lots of little strips and the peas will run loose. Or,
- Slice lengthwise, making 1 or 2 slices per snap pea. This will create a pretty little slice through the peas, as you see in the photo. Seems fancy, but super simple! Those little boats will also do a good job of holding the buckwheat and the dressing. YUM.
- You could also do a combination of the two, as I did here.
This dreamy raw snap pea salad is the perfect blend of textures and flavours…and takes just 20 minutes to prepare. And the ginger cashew dressing is worth making a double batch of so you can have it in the fridge. Cashews are the perfect dairy substitute and so good for you. I hope you love it as much as I do!
Vegan Picnic Salads: Sugar Snap Pea Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 pound Sugar Snap Peas, finely sliced
- ¾ cup dry buckwheat groats
- ⅓ lightly packed cup fresh mint leaves, finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Ginger Cashew Dressing
- ¼ cup cashew butter
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- 4 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon salt
- dried chile flakes, to taste
Equipment
- immersion blender
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit (175° Celsius). Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, toss buckwheat with olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Spread on baking sheet and place in oven.
- Roast for 15-16 minutes, until buckwheat is a deep golden colour, stirring half way through cooking as the edges will roast faster than the middle. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Meanwhile, mix up the dressing. Add the cashew butter, lime juice, water, ginger, sesame oil, maple syrup, salt and chile flakes to a wide mouthed jar and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
- To assemble, arrange the snap peas, buckwheat and mint in a shallow serving dish. Drizzle with dressing and serve.
