Life Cafe was epic.
Five to ten years ago, before Hong Kong inevitably caught up with the undeniable trend of clean eating, Life Cafe was the only vegetarian restaurant where you could get a good salad. I was a regular and I always ordered the same thing: Life Salad, dressing on the side. And now for a confession: I’ve been dreaming of the Life Salad. I miss it daily at lunchtime. That is…until now. I decided to find a way to get the Life Salad back and get it to you—fast.
My friend Carlos was the head chef at Life about a decade ago and I finally found some notes from Carlos with the famed ingredients of the Life Salad. I’ve taken a bit of a creative twist and made it my own. Get ready for a new addiction.
Feel free to play with any of your favorite hummus versions. Try my sprouted version or my sun-dried tomato hummus.
For the dressing: Try my Greens Galore dressing recipe.
And for the crackers: Try my Craveable Gluten-Free Cracker recipe!
Now go get a life. A Life Salad, that is.
Life Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- Mixed Greens
- Shredded carrots
- Shredded beetroot
- Alfalfa sprouts
- Nuts and seeds
- Nutritional yeast to sprinkle
- Raw Crackers
- Sprouted hummus
Sprouted hummus
- 1 cup chickpeas dried
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Sprouted Hummus
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Soak chickpeas in water overnight or up to 24 hours.
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Drain and rinse in the morning and spread on a cookie sheet or pyrex dish.
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Rinse every few hours. Sprouting time depends on humidity. When ready, it will be pretty obvious and you will see sprouts emerge! Once done, store in airtight container in the fridge.
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When you're all sprouted, blend hummus ingredients in a high-speed blender and set aside. I suggest making this 1 day ahead.
Assemble Salad
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Plate a mound of greens in individual bowls or a family-style platter.
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Drizzle greens with my Greens Galore dressing (link to recipe above), or your favorite dressing.
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Mound some carrots, beetroot, and alfalfa sprouts on top.
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Sprinkle with nuts, seeds, nutritional yeast, and then drizzle more dressing on top.
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Scoop two spoonfuls of hummus onto the salad (I like to use an ice cream scooper).
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Garnish with my Craveable Gluten-Free Crackers (link to recipe above).
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Keeps in fridge for 2 days.
