Lettuce salad with miso sesame dressing

Did you know that 95% of lettuce is just water?  It’s also low on calories and that makes up for the additional calories you get from the dressing.

Lettuce was first cultivated by the Egyptians who realised the value of its seeds and learned how to nurture this weed. They then passed this knowledge on to the Greeks and Romans.

Do you ever wonder why salad is eaten before the main course? In ancient Rome, people believed that eating lettuce would cause them to go to sleep, so they would eat their salad at the end of the meal. However, the tyrannical Roman Emperor Domitian thought that it would be fun to torture his guests during royal feasts. So he decided to start his banquets by serving lettuce at the beginning—so that his guests would feel drowsy and be forced to stay awake throughout the event! Let’s move on to the recipe.

Lettuce salad with miso sesame dressing

Serves 4

Ingredients

• ½ iceberg lettuce, shredded
• ½ red cabbage, shredded
• 1 carrot, julienne
• 1 celery stick, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp white miso paste
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp light olive oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• Splash of rice vinegar
• Salt, to taste

Preparation method

1. Make the salad by mixing together the lettuce, cabbage, carrot and celery.
2. Make the dressing by whisking together the miso, honey, olive oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar and 1 tbsp of water. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and add more honey if it tastes too bitter or add more rice vinegar if it tastes too sweet.
3. Pour the dressing over the salad and serve.